''True Detective'' (originally ''True Detective Mysteries'') was an American

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

magazine published from 1924 to 1995. It initiated the true crime magazine genre, and during its peak from the 1940s to the early 1960s it sold millions of copies and spawned numerous imitators.

History

''True Detective Mysteries'' was founded in 1924 by publisher

Bernarr Macfadden Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pu ...

.Murley 2008, pp. 12–13. It initially focused on

mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

, with a mix of non-fiction crime stories. In the 1930s, Macfadden realized the popularity of the non-fiction pieces and gradually phased out fiction. As such, ''True Detective Mysteries'' became the first

magazine. In 1941, Macfadden changed the name to ''True Detective'', emphasizing the magazine's move away from mystery fiction. ''True Detective'' non-fiction stories retained some of the tone and style of

noir fiction Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. Definition In its modern form, noir has come to denote a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence and death in some ...

and mystery writing, laying the ground for subsequent true crime genre conventions. The magazine had few ambitions to purvey serious literature, although it did publish early work by respected writers like

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

, Jim Thompson, and

Ann Rule Ann Rae Rule (''née'' Stackhouse; October 22, 1931 – July 26, 2015) was an American author of true crime books and articles. She is best known for '' The Stranger Beside Me'' (1980), about the serial killer Ted Bundy, with whom Rule worked ...

, among others. It appealed to the same working class audience as its

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

competitors and became a massive hit, evidently selling around 2 million copies per month in the 1930s and '40s. Its success inspired many imitators. MacFadden created a sister publication, ''Master Detective'', and around 200 other true crime magazines emerged by the 1960s. Within the genre, ''True Detective'' was regarded as the standard bearer of quality and reliability. The

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 ...

industry declined in the 1960s, out-competed by television and increasingly cheap

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

books.Murley 2008, pp. 15–16. Many magazines went out of business, but ''True Detective'' continued publication, though with increasingly sensational and sexualized content and declining quality. By the 1980s, it was one of only 11 true crime magazines still in print. The magazine went through several publishers; in 1995 it was bought out by

Globe Communications ''Globe,'' a supermarket tabloid based in Boca Raton, Florida, covers politics, celebrity, human interest, and crime stories, largely sensationalist tabloid journalism. History ''Globe'' was first published in North America on November 10, 195 ...

, which shuttered the magazine. After the American magazine shut down, British publishers continued ''True Detective'' under a new format, with an increased focus on Australian, European, and historical crimes.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last= Murley , first= Jean , year= 2005 , title= The Rise of True Crime: 20th-Century Murder and American Popular Culture, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oASrCQAAQBAJ , publisher= ABC-CLIO , isbn=1573567728

External links

True Detective Mysteries
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

1924 establishments in the United States 1995 disestablishments in the United States 1950 establishments in the United Kingdom Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1924 Magazines established in 1950 Magazines disestablished in 1995 Pulp magazines True crime magazines