pulps
Alarma en Nueva Orleans
This Spanish-language pulp magazine issue features "Alarma en Nueva Orleans" (original title "The Heat's On"), translated by J. Pané Argelich, published November 1952 by Editorial Bruguera. The crime story, attributed to Ricky Drayton, begins with acrobat Stella Carolla's fatal fall from the high wire during a circus performance in New Orleans. Drayton, a crime reporter attending as spectator, observes the aftermath and notices suspicious details: Stella's cold medicine bottle contains whisky, an empty whisky bottle sits on her trailer table, and clown Joey provides conflicting explanations for her drinking. The fortune-teller Grazia Mara claims Stella was a teetotaler with steady nerves. Drayton suspects murder—that the medicine was doctored and whisky deliberately left visible. When Captain O'Rourke arrives to investigate, Joey admits his fingerprints will be on the whisky bottle he gave Stella days earlier, raising questions about whose prints appear on the glass itself.