On Black Friday weekend 2025, Steeger Books put out their next two sets of Argosy Library volumes, Series XVIII and XIX, getting closer to 200 volumes.
As always, with each series, we get 10 books of great and sometimes overlooked fiction that appeared in the early pulps. We get some stand-alone works, as well as volumes of various subseries. This selection seems very heavy on crime and detective stories and series.
Most are taken from the pulps started by Frank A. Munsey, who converted his fiction magazines to pulp paper and reduced their price, making them more profitable. He published the well-known Argosy magazine, which got its start in the late 1800s, and several other popular magazines such as The All-Story and Detective Fiction Weekly.
Series XVIII consists of:
- Dr. Skull, by Lewis Clay
- Abbey of the Damned: The Complete Cases of Mike and Trixie, Vol. 3, by T.T. Flynn
- The Death Messenger: The Complete Cases of Jigger Masters, Vol. 4, by Anthony M. Rud
- Box 991: The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, Vol. 5, by J.U. Giesy & Junius B. Smith
- Blind Trails at Tonto: The Complete Tales of Sheriff Henry, Vol. 8, by W.C. Tuttle
- In the Murderer’s Brain: The Complete Cases of the Scientific Club, Vol. 3, by Ray Cummings
- The Legion of the Living Dead: The Complete Cases of Mr. Strang, Vol. 2, by Carroll John Daly
- The Mental Marvel, by Fred MacIsaac
- The Adventure of the Voodoo Moon: The Complete Cases of the Lady From Hell, Vol. 2, by Eugene Thomas
- Murder on the Film: The Complete Cases of Candid Jones, Vol. 1, by Richard B. Sale
Dr. Skull appears to be the only work by Lewis Clay, which first appeared in Detective Fiction Weekly in 1938 for 10 parts. The city of New York is being menaced by someone who can apparently use occult abilities to speak through others and see through their eyes: Dr. Skull. This sounds very interesting, and I am planning on getting this one.
From T.T. Flynn is the next collection of the detective stories starring Mike Harris and Trixie Meehan: Abbey of the Damned, which is Vol. 3 of the series from Detective Fiction Weekly. We get the next three stories, so we will need two or three more volumes for this one. This is a series for those who enjoy hard-boiled crime with a male-and-female pair of bickering detectives.
We get the next Jigger Masters collection, The Death Messenger, which is the fourth collection from Anthony M. Rud. I have been enjoying this series that mixes science with detective fiction, and we get the next two stories in the series: “The Death Messenger” and “A Giant in the Swimming Pool.” This is another I will be getting.
And I am happy we are getting another Semi Dual collection in Box 991. This gives us the next two stories by J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith. Semi Dual is an unusual occult detective, more cerebral, and allows his associates to deal with the physicality of the stories. As the prior stories had Semi Dual and Gordon Glace traveling across the country, I am expecting we will be back in New York for these two. But we will see.
The next collection of Sheriff Henry stories, Blind Trails at Tonto, continues the adventures of this humorous Western series by W.C. Tuttle. We get the next three stories in this long-running series.
In the Murderer’s Brain has the next set of stories in Ray Cummings’ “Scientific Club” series. Here we get a series of crimes being solved by the experiments of Doctor Adams, Dr. Gregg, Detective Marberry, and their associates.
We get the second and last volume of the Mr. Strang series from Carroll John Daly, the creator of the hard-boiled detective. The Legion of the Living Dead has the third and final story in this series from Detective Fiction Weekly. Mr. Strang is a strange character with a Mr. Spock-like haircut. I look forward to reviewing this whole series.
From the prolific Fred MacIsaac, we get The Mental Marvel. Our hero, Roger Thule, is a mental prodigy, though a physical weakling. But when his father is shot dead and the only clue is a lady’s scented handkerchief, he decides to find the killer. And in doing so, transforms himself into a fighter, not just to find the killer, but to win the his love of his life.
We get the second volume of stories with the Lady From Hell, Vivian Legrand, from Eugene Thomas. The Adventure of the Voodoo Moon has the next eight stories, and we will need one more volume for this series. We get another series of stories with this femme fatale who works with her right-hand man, Adrian Wylie.
I have heard of the Candid Camera Kid, but not Candid Jones, another camera-toting detective. This series is by Richard B. Sale, and even crossed over with another series he did, Daffy Dill. Murder on the Film is the first volume, with five stories in this series that ran almost 20 stories in Detective Fiction Weekly.
As always, it’s a mixed bag of volumes. There are ones here I plan on getting, others I might, and some I have no interest in. But the variety means there is something for everyone.
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