Doubleday's Crime Club: The Golden Age

In 1928, the publishing house Doubleday, Doran formed a separate division to publish mystery and detective stories exclusively. The Crime Club, Inc. became an industry phenomenon, publishing nearly 2,500 books over the next 63 years. It was home to many of the genre's most famous characters, including The Saint, Bulldog Drummond, Hildegarde Withers, and the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. It introduced American readers to the works of many prominent British crime-fiction authors, among them Margery Allingham, H. C. Bailey, Anthony Berkeley, and Philip MacDonald. A significant number of Crime Club books attained best-seller status, and many were licensed by Hollywood studios for adaptation to the silver screen. Few mystery readers failed to recognize the Club's modernistic trademark, which appeared on every volume and was affectionately known as "the Little Gunman."

In this monograph, pop-culture historian Ed Hulse (The Blood 'n' Thunder Guide to Pulp Fiction, The Art of Pulp Fiction, etc.) meticulously chronicles the Crime Club's Golden Age-1928 to 1940-in extensive detail, reporting on the imprint's corporate structure, personnel changes, and marketing strategies. He discusses its most notable books and authors and places the Club in its proper historical context. Hulse also presents the first complete chronological list of Crime Club releases, identifying the monthly "Selections" sent to subscribing members during this period. He lists the Crime Club movies made between 1928 and 1940 and extensively covers the eight 1937-39 Crime Club adaptations produced by Universal Pictures. Finally, Old Time Radio researcher Karl Schadow weighs in on early broadcasts that adapted Crime Club mysteries for thrill-hungry listeners.

The monograph is profusely illustrated with reproductions of dust jackets, photographs from film versions, and advertisements from publishing-industry trade journals.