The Hardboiled Dicks An Anthology of Detective Fiction from the Pulp Magazine

They form a segment of American crime and mystery fiction that refuses to die. Still very much with us in nearly every style of contemporary writing, the tough detective school is a mixture of cynicism, violence, native American pragmatism and heroic poetry.

The early pulp magazine had untrimmed edges and a lurid, four-color cover. It was a training ground for writers who went on to dominate the fields of Western, suspense and action writing and particularly the mystery-detective field.

In many senses, the characters who emerged from the pulp mystery pages represented the last stronghold of individuality in a country that was plunged into the depression.

Here, then, is an anthology of representative stories taken from the great, driving forces in pulp detective fiction: Black Mask , Dime Detective , and Detective Fiction Weekly. They represent the work being done in the 20's and 30's and are offered here as more than a nostalgic look at the past. They are offered as prototypes of one of the most popular fiction types ever developed.