We now get the next volume collecting stories of pulp detective Jigger Masters, created by author and editor Anthony Rud (1893-1942). This character had an unusual history, having first appeared in The Green Book Magazine in 1918. Then he disappeared for about 15 years to be brought back mainly in Detective Fiction Weekly, often with long stories, some of which were reprinted as books at the time.
Well, as part of the latest set of books in its Argosy Library series, Steeger Books gives us the third volume of the Jigger Masters series: The Stuffed Men: The Complete Cases of Jigger Masters, Vol. 3. It reprints a three-part serial that started Jan. 20, 1934, and was later reprinted in book form, along with the next short story. The serial was cover featured, and the artwork was used as the cover of this reprint.
We get another bizarre mystery for Jigger Masters. A collector of Ming pottery has a group break into his house and destroy his latest acquisition. He then dies under mysterious circumstances, his body bloating for some reason. The same soon happens to a rival collector. And a Japanese dealer in ceramics throws himself from a plane and his body is similarly affected.
There seems to be a tong involved and things point to a bizarre house known as the “Brick Wart.” Someone is also trying to kill Masters and his associates. Can he figure things out before it’s all done? There will be furious action and death before this is all said and done.
This time his assistant Gildersleeve is more involved in the action, and his new assistant, who joined after the last story, makes an appearance. Jigger’s Japanese servant, Mitsui, actually gets involved a bit as well. And Jiggers meets a girl who may be involved in future works.
Then we get the short story “The Golden Bullet,” where Jigger operates without any assistance. He is called in by Dr. Ivan Tork, a forensics expert on poisons to help someone marked by death. That turns out to be the criminal Frank Corsetti, whom Jigger had tried to get convicted but failed due to missing evidence. Corsetti has been threatened and wants to hire Jigger to find out who. But before they can do much, Corsetti dies from smoking his cigar, which has been poisoned. Now Jigger has to find the killer. He finds that the cigar maker is also dead. And a woman with connections to Corsetti, Julie LeGendre is also being threatened. Then she is grazed by a golden bullet and suddenly dies. This is due to poison on the bullet.
Can Jigger figure out who is doing the killing? And just as important, why?
It’s another good series of stories. I look forward to the next volume, which should have the next two stories, including another that was published in book form at the time.
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