DETECTIVE NOVEL MAGAZINE.

New York: Best Publications, Inc., 1947. Octavo, single issue, cover by Rudolph Belarski, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. This issue features an alternative to the uncommon hardcover of the novel "The Grindle Nightmare" by Q. Patrick. Douglas Swanson and Antonio Conti, researchers at the Rhodes University Hospital, are under attack from the SPCA for experimental animal research they are conducting to develop new serums and vaccines. When the isolated rural community of Grindle Valley is suddenly victim to a series of horrific animal mutilations involving pets and livestock, Swanson and Conti are the prime suspects, but subsequent incidents force authorities to accept that the town is under attack from a homicidal maniac. Several individuals report seeing a body dragged behind a car through the streets late at night, and soon Jo Baines, a farmer, is found drowned in a creek, his body mangled and broken, his hands caught in animal traps. His young daughter, Polly, who has mysteriously disappeared is later found dead, cruelly bound and hoisted into the branches of a tree where she has died from loss of blood and exposure. THE GRINDLE NIGHTMARE is a grisly, violent crime novel that most closely resembles the weird thrillers found in the shudder pulps of the 1930s or a book by Mark Hansom or R. R. Ryan if either of those authors were better writers capable of constructing coherent plots and characters, regardless of how improbable. In the August 10, 1935 issue of The Saturday Review, William C. Weber summed up THE GRINDLE NIGHTMARE thus: “More nasty people and unpleasant events you’ll never find between two covers. Verdict: Ghastly.” A tense, fast-paced work whose emphasis on abnormal psychology and communicated madness brings the novel squarely into the horror genre. This issue also includes short fiction by Norman Daniels and Ray Cummings. Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazine, pp. 142-144. Damp stain to front cover, creases, tape to spine ends, a good copy. (20159). Item #20159

Price: $35.00