''Thrilling Mystery'' was an American

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

published from 1935 to 1944. New York publisher Standard Magazines had a stable of magazines with the "Thrilling" prefix, including '' Thrilling Detective'', '' Thrilling Love'', and ''

Thrilling Adventures ''Thrilling Adventures'' was a monthly American pulp magazine published from 1931 to 1943.Doug Ellis, John Locke, John Gunnison, ''The Adventure House Guide to the Pulps''. Adventure House, 2000, (p. 270). History ''Thrilling Adventures'' was ...

'', but in 1935,

Popular Publications Popular Publications was one of the largest publishers of pulp magazines during its existence, at one point publishing 42 different titles per month. Company titles included detective fiction, detective, adventure novel, adventure, Romance nove ...

, a rival publisher, launched a weird menace pulp titled '' Thrilling Mysteries.'' Standard Magazines sued over the use of the word "Thrilling", and Popular conceded, settling out of court. ''Thrilling Mysteries'' was cancelled after a single issue, and in October 1935 Standard began ''Thrilling Mystery''. Like ''Thrilling Mysteries'' this was a terror pulp, but it contained less sex and violence than most of the genre, and as a result, in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley, "the stories had greater originality, although they are not necessarily of better quality". Ashley singles out Carl Jacobi's "Satan's Kite", about a family cursed because of a theft from a temple in Borneo, as worthy of mention. There were two detective stories by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan. Other contributors included

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

Fredric Brown Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4 ...

Seabury Quinn Seabury Grandin Quinn (also known as Jerome Burke; December 1889 – December 24, 1969) was an American government lawyer, journalist, and pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in '' ...

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

, and

Henry Kuttner Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915 – February 3, 1958) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Early life Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915. Kuttner (1829–1903) and Amelia Bush (c. 1834–1911), the ...

.Ashley (1985), pp. 666-667. There was little science fiction in the magazine, but some fantasy: pulp historian Robert K. Jones cites

Arthur J. Burks Arthur Josephus Burks (September 13, 1898 – May 13, 1974) was an American Marine officer and fiction writer. Burks was born to a farming family in Waterville, Washington. He married Blanche Fidelia Lane on March 23, 1918, in Sacramento, ...

"Devils in the Dust" as "one of the most effective" stories, with "a mood as bleak as an arctic blizzard", and Ashley agrees, calling it "particularly powerful".Ashley (1985), pp. 666-667. In 1945 the title changed to ''Thrilling Mystery Novel Magazine'', and it became ''Detective Mystery Novel Magazine'' in 1947, and ''2 Detective Mystery Novels Magazine'' in 1949, finally ceasing publication in 1951.

Bibliographic details

''Thrilling Mystery'' was published by Standard Magazines, and produced a total of 88 issues under four different titles between October 1935 and Winter 1951. It was pulp format for all issues, with between 96 and 146 pages. It began at 10 cents, changing to 15 cents with the Winter 1945 issue when the title changed to ''Thrilling Mystery Novel Magazine''; the title changed again to ''Detective Mystery Novel Magazine'' with the Summer 1947 issue, and the price increased to 20 cents in Spring 1948 and again to 25 cents in Fall 1949. The following issue the title became ''2 Detective Mystery Novels Magazine''. There were three numbers to a volume, with some irregularities: there was no issue 7/1, and no volume 13.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book, last=Ashley, first=Mike, title=Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines, publisher=Greenwood Press, year=1985, isbn=0-3132-1221-X, editor-last=Tymn, editor-first=Marshall B., location=Westport, Connecticut, pages=666–667, chapter=''Thrilling Mystery'', ref=none, editor-last2=Ashley, editor-first2=Mike Magazines established in 1935 Magazines disestablished in 1951 Pulp magazines