In late 2025, we got the next volume of pulp detective Jigger Masters, created by author and editor Anthony M. Rud (1893-1942): The Death Messenger: The Complete Cases of Jigger Masters, Vol. 4.
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 longer stories, some of which were reprinted as books at the time.
This is part of the latest set of books in the Argosy Library series from Steeger Books. The title story, a novella, was reprinted from Two-Book Detective Magazine (February/March 1934), along with the short story “A Giant in the Swimming Pool” from Detective Fiction Weekly (April 21, 1934). I am not certain of the source of the cover art. The Death Messenger was soon reprinted as the hardcover book The House of the Damned.
As with such series, there are few continuing characters, and here they only appear in The Death Messenger. J.C.K. “Jigger” Masters (no idea what the initials mean) has assistants George Barnes, who is more of a secretary, and Marshall Vandervoort, who joined him in a recent work and is also a detective. Vandervoort assists him in this mystery. Jigger’s Japanese servant, Mitsui, appears, but isn’t a major figure. We also have the local district attorney and Capt. Hainey, who appeared in a recent story.
“The Death Messenger” starts off strangely. We focus on a mysterious man named Peter Unger, who lives in a cabin on an estate on Long Island. He is taking radio messages in a tunnel and takes out a sniper rifle. He shoots at one of the windows of the Fernycroft mansion, owned by millionaire Chester Braithwaite, apparently trying to shoot “Static” Browne. Then he sees Braithwaite’s secretary come down the hill, when she suddenly falls over, possibly dead. She is found stabbed and dying, but there is no weapon and, with the snow, no sign that anyone had approached her.
Braithwaite approaches Jigger to look into the strange happenings. Braithwaite, a widower, has allowed various eccentric scientists to live and work in his mansion. He himself is working on a new architectural project that he wants to keep secret until it is unveiled. But something strange is going on. There will be more murders, including one of Jigger’s associates, along with hidden identities, a strange conspiracy known only as “R-C,” and more. It won’t be until the end of the story, after the mastermind has been captured, that Jigger reveals the full explanation behind it all. Yet another bizarre murder mystery solved by Jigger Masters.
The story “A Giant in the Swimming Pool” is very short. Jigger is hired by a pair of brothers who run a chemical factory. They are working on a new discovery that they hope will make them a lot of money, but there is a threat from somewhere. One brother works in an office on the fifth floor, while in the basement, there is a laboratory where the other brother works. They have also set up a small apartment in the basement, along with a pool. Someone shoots one of the brothers in the back while he is sleeping in the apartment. It doesn’t kill him, but it cripples him. Jigger is checking things out when their private elevator plunges to the lowest level. It would have killed whoever was in it. Later, the other brother is almost drowned in the pool. Can Jigger get to the bottom of things before one or both of the brothers are killed?
It’s another great collection. I’m not sure what we will get next, as next up is a serial and then a novelette. So maybe those two will be in the next volume. I look forward to it.
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