Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
This list, mostly pinched from William F. Nolan’s excellent The Black Mask Boys (1985), is almost certainly incomplete. Everyone knows the big names like Black Mask, Dime Detective and Detective Fiction Weekly, but most of the pulps came and went with dizzying speed, switching titles and publishers and formats with gay abandon. Some lasted only an issue or two; some hung on way past their expiration date. Still, most of them are here, and, like Nolan, I haven’t included any of the digests or non-genre magazines that sometimes published various types of crime fiction.
- Ace-High Detective
- Ace G-Man Stories
- Ace Mystery (1936, Periodical House)
Short-lived (three issues), continued as “Detective Romances” (1937) - Action Detective
- Alibi
- All Detective
- All-Fiction Detective Stories
- All Star Detective Stories
- All Story Detective
- Amazing Detective Tales
- Angel Detective
- The Avenger
- Baffling Detective Mysteries
- Best Detective
- Big Book Detective
- Black Aces
- Black Bat Detective
- Black Book Detective
- Black Hood Detective
- Black Mask
- Candid Detective
- Captain Satan, King of Detectives
- Clues
- Complete Detective Novel
- Complete Mystery Novelettes
- Complete Underworld Novelettes
- Courtroom Stories
- Crack Detective Stories
- Crack Detective and Mystery Stories
- Crime Busters
- Crime Detective
- Crime Fiction Magazine (1950, Trojan)
Only one issue of this  pocket-sized (4 1/2″ by 6 5/8″) pulp was published. It was part of Trojan’s efforts to keep the company afloat in a dwindling market. It was joined by Pocket Western Magazine, Pocket Detective Magazine and Hollywood Detective Magazine, but none of them made it past two issues. - Crime Mysteries
- Dan Dunn Detective
- Dare Devil Detective
- Detective Action Stories
- Detective and Murder Mysteries
- Detective Book
- Detective Classics
- Detective Dime Novels
- Detective-Dragnet
- Detective Fiction
- Detective Fiction Weekly
- Detective Mysteries
- Detective Mystery Novel
- Detective Novels
- Detective Romances (1937, Periodical House)
Short-lived (two issues), continuation of  “Ace Mystery” (1936). - Detective Short Story
- Detective Story
- Detective Tales
- Detective Trails
- Detective Yarns
- Dime Detective
- Dime Mystery
- Dime Mystery Book
- Doc Savage
- Doctor Death
- Double-Action Detective
- Double Action Gang
- Double Detective
- Dragnet
- Eerie Mysteries
- Exciting Detective
- Exciting Mystery
- Famous Detective
- Fast-Action Detective Mystery
- F.B.I. Detective Stories
- Federal Agent
- The Feds
- Fifteen Detective Stories
- Fifteen Mystery Stories
- Fifteen-Story Detective
- Five Detective Novels
- Four Big Mystery Novels
- Gangland Stories
- The Gang
- Gangster Stories
- Gang World
- The Ghost Super Detective
- Giant Detective
- Girl Rackets
- Girls’ Detective
- G-Men Detective
- Gold Seal Detective
- Great Detective
- Greater Gangster Stories
- The Green Ghost Detective
- The Green Lama
- Gun Molls
- Hardboiled
- Headquarters Detective
- Hollywood Detective
- Hollywood Detective Magazine (1950, Trojan)
Only one issue of this  pocket-sized (4 1/2″ by 6 5/8″) pulp was published. It was part of Trojan’s efforts to keep the company afloat in a dwindling market. It was joined by Pocket Western Magazine, Pocket Detective Magazine and Crime Fiction Magazine, but none of them made it past two issues. - Hooded Detective
- International Detective
- Illustrated Detective
- Lone Wolf Detective
- Loup Noir
- Mammoth Detective
- Mammoth Mystery
- Masked Detective
- Mobsters
- Mystery
- Mystery Adventure
- Mystery Book
- Mystery League
- Mystery Novels
- Mystery Novels and Short Stories
- Mystery Stories
- Mystery Tales
- New Detective
- New Mystery Adventures
- Nick Carter
- Nickel Detective
- The Octopus
- Operator #5
- Phantom Detective
- Pocket Detective (1950, Trojan)
Only two issues of this pint-sized (4 1/2″ by 6 5/8″) pulp were published. It was part of Trojan’s efforts to keep the company afloat in a dwindling market. It was joined by Pocket Western Magazine, Hollywood Detective Magazine and Crime Fiction Magazine, but none of them made it past two issues either. - Popular Detective
- Prison Life Stories
- Prison Stories
- Private Detective Stories
- Private Eye Stories
- Prize Detective
- Public Enemy
- Rackeer Stories
- Rapid-Fire Detective Stories
- Real police Story
- Real Mystery
- Red Hood Detective
- Red Mask Detective Stories
- Red Star Detective
- Red Star Mystery
- Romantic Detective
- Scotland Yard Detective Stories
- Scientific Detective
- Secret Agent Detective Mysteries
- Secret Agent X
- Secret Service Detective
- The Shadow
- Smashing Detective
- Snappy Detective Mysteries
- Speakeasy Stories
- Special Detective
- Speed Detective
- Speed Mystery
- Spicy Detective
- Spicy Mystery Stories
- The Spider
- Star Detective
- Startling Detective Adventures
- Startling Mystery
- Stirring Detective and Western Stories
- Strange Detective Mystery
- Strange Detective Stories
- Street & Smith’s Mystery
- Super-Detective
- Sure-Fire Detective
- Ten Detective Aces
- Ten Story Detective
- Ten Story Gang
- Ten Story Mystery
- Thrilling Detective
- Thrilling Mysteries
- Thrilling Mystery
- Thrilling Mystery Novels
- Thrilling Spy Stories
- Top Detective
- Top-Notch Detective
- Triple Detective (1947-54)
35 quarterly issues. Each issue contained three detective “novels” and several short stories. - True Gang Life
- Two Book Detective
- Two Complete Detective Books
- Two Detective Mystery Novels
- Undercover Detective
- The Underworld
- Underworld DetectiveUnderworld Love
- Underworld Romances
- Variety Detective
- The Whisperer
- World Manhunters
RELATED LINKS
- The Best Crime & Detective Pulps
An honour roll. A work in progress; highly subjective.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. The photo of the newstand (circa December 195) was taken from the unsplash.com page for the New York Public Library.
