Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld’s masked nightmare!
The Phantom takes a perilous trail when evil killer snakes bare their ugly fangs and the reaper registers at college for a sinister degree in mysterious, cold-blooded murder!
Although the magazine was titled The Phantom Detective, the character in the lead story went by two different names in each issue. Born Richard Curtis Van Loan, he was a child of wealth. Orphaned at an early age, Van Loan found a father figure of sorts in newspaper publisher Frank Havens, a relationship that would have a direct impact on his future as The Phantom, what the character was called in the series, never The Phantom Detective.
Not only did Van Loan share his playboy status with characters both before his creation and after it, he also had something in common with many other Pulp heroes, having served in World War One, specifically as a pilot. Returning from the war and struggling to find his purpose, he accepted a challenge from Frank Havens to solve a crime that law enforcement could not. In this, the haggard war veteran and millionaire found his purpose, not something born out of personal tragedy, but out of a need to do good, to help others. Having been a playboy prior to the war, Van Loan knew he would need certain skills to follow his new mission. He taught himself to be a master at disguise, an escape artist, a fighter of multiple styles, and most importantly, an expert in detection and criminology. Once believing himself suitably ready, he donned a domino mask, not the top hat so famously depicted on each of the magazine’s covers and became The Phantom Detective.
The Grim Shadow of Hate was originally published in the June 1941 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Dead Man Wins
Chapter 2: The Fourth Murder
Chapter 3: Print of Murder
Chapter 4: Psychology of Fear
Chapter 5: A Queer Professor
Chapter 6: A Frightened Dean
Chapter 7: Delayed Blast
Chapter 8: Acrobats
Chapter 9: Two Are Missing
Chapter 10: The Phantom Strikes
Chapter 11: Green Goddesses
Chapter 12: The Doctor Speaks
Chapter 13: Looks Like a Circus
Chapter 14: Queer Resurrection
Chapter 15: Chip Trails Murder
Chapter 16: Crosswise Murder
Chapter 17: Jason Jones Lives
Chapter 18: Queer Graph Record
Chapter 19: Murder of a Horse
Chapter 20: Murder In A Book
Chapter 21: The Phantom’s Badge
Chapter 22: Blood Will Tell — Sometimes
