Vintage Pulp reprint
Cloak and Dagger Challenge #116
Monthly Key Word: House
TBR #90
Date Finished: August 25, 2018

The Phantom Detective visits a Long Island mansion where various family members are being threatened by a mysterious murderer. Thankfully there are some secret passages to help give the house some character. A lot more chasing around than was of interest. Supposedly written by Norman A. Daniels under the Robert Wallace house name, this one just didn’t hold the attention.

Three more short stories were included from the same February 1935 issue of The Phantom Detective, one of which was missing its last page. Another Norman A. Daniels story, “Masked Faces,” involves a man held up at a costume party taking on a masked identity to tackle the gang. This one read almost as a introduction for its one series and was superior to the lead Phantom Detective story.

The other two originals were not memorable, but the final story added was a Robert Leslie Bellem story, “Mahatma of Mayhem,” from the April 1948 issue of Thrilling Detective. The entertaining story involved fake psychic gurus and Hollywood stars with detective Nick Ransom starring.