The Shadow in Temple of Crime

Howdy, you Trackers And Sleuths! 

Hope everyone is doing well because we have a mystery to solve!  And it's a classic, too!  This time we're going to talk about a story that appeared in The Shadow magazine, it's called "Temple of Crime".

It was written by  Walter B. Gibson but published under the house name of Maxwell Grant by Street and Smith in November of 1941.  However, my copy is in "The Shadow #77" published by Sanctum Books in 2013.  I got my copy from Radio Spirits, a company that specializes in CDs of old-time radio shows and other (sometimes loosely) related items.

This issue also features another Shadow story called "The Curse of Thoth", a brief essay by Will Murray, and a radio script for an Egyptian-themed episode of Nick Carter.

So here's the situation in this one:  a rich guy named Amru Monak has reconstructed an Egyptian temple of Ammon-Ra on his estate and started up a cult to worship him.  The Shadow sent Margo Lane to join the cult, to investigate it from within.  During their first ceremony in the temple, a murder occurs!  

Amru Monak is one of the primary suspects, but not the only one.  The other two suspects are  Basil Gorth, an archaeologist who was part of the expedition who found the temple in Egypt; and Jan Ravion, a university professor who hopes to be the first person to translate the mysterious hieroglyphics on the pedestal that supports the statue of Ammon-Ra.

The premises are stalked by Monak's sinister servants and also a mysterious gang of ruffians who wear masks styled after Egyptian gods.  The weird temple seems to be magical...or haunted.  And at one point, The Shadow gets locked in a mummy case!

I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, but I will tell you that there are abundant action scenes, panicky crowds, the enigmatic Book of Thoth, and mysterious goings-on!  The Shadow does not "cloud men's minds" like he does in the radio show, but he does seem to have the supernatural ability to...well...become darkness, and therefore go unseen by human eyes. 

I have only read a few Shadow stories, so I don't know how the die-hard connoisseurs rate this one, but I enjoyed it very much.  If you like pulps, you'll certainly like this!  Or maybe you've found it already, if so tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!  I'll be back in a few weeks to talk about something else!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Phantom Sleuth

Howdy-do to you Tough-Guys, Agents, and Shamuses! 
...or is that Shamii?  ...I guess it's a shame-I don't know!  HA!

Yeah, I know, it was bad.  You know the worst part is?  I'm not even ashamed of it!  Isn't that terrible?

Anyway, welcome back!  Since the premier Saturday Serial, "The Crystal Cage" has ended, I want to talk about the next story, and what inspired it.

As you must know by now, I am a fan of the old pulp heroes.  The Shadow, the Spider, the Phantom Detective, the Black Bat, the Green Lama...there are so many, and they all have some distinct similarities.  Chiefly, they are all masked mystery men fighting against crime!  Some, like the Shadow and the Green Lama, have seemingly supernatural powers, while most of the others only have pistols and fanatical devotion to their cause.

Many such heroes had their own magazine, some had radio dramas, and some of the most popular ones had movies or movie serials.  The Masked Man of Mystery was a rock-solid trope of the hero pulps, so naturally I HAD to have one of my own!

My hero is the Phantom Sleuth!  This mysterious identity is actually shared by a pair of identical twin brothers:  Byron and Brian Twain.  Their parents were marked for death by the mob, and Byron was caught up in the mob hit while Brian escaped it altogether.  Now, Byron is believed to be dead, and both brothers have vowed to avenge their parents' death by waging a war against crime.

Brian Twain, the sole survivor of the family tragedy, is now a wealthy young socialite and sole heir to the family business empire.  Secretly, the Twain brothers created the identity of the Phantom Sleuth, and began to fight the underworld.  The two brothers take on the identity of the Phantom Sleuth in shifts, likewise the public identity of Brian Twain.

Byron is in love with Jane Wayland, who only knows him as Brian, the living twin.  As a star reporter of a local newspaper and the daughter of the Police Commissioner, she inadvertently supplies the Phantom Sleuth with various tidbits of useful information.  Meanwhile, her father deems the Sleuth to be a danger to the public at large, and strives to bring him in, like a common criminal.

The Phantom Sleuth is a crack shot, a master of disguise, and a skilled escape artist who fights the outlandish villains who threatened the peace and safety of the denizens of this beloved city.  Magicians, Mesmerists, Masterminds and more plague the criminal cases in his files!

You can get the first-ever Phantom Sleuth story, "The Case of the Villainous Vanishing Act", and a slew of other stories--for FREE--in "The Adventure Sampler" when you join the Adventure Society.  You can also read the first installment of newest adventure this Saturday!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell