Black Book Detective, November 1948

# Black Book Detective, Volume XXV, No. 2 (November 1948)

This issue features "City of Hate," a complete Black Bat novel by G. Wayman Jones, in which the costumed vigilante Tony Quinn confronts a murder mystery centered on political corruption. The story begins with the assassination of Victor Dermont, a powerful state political operator, killed in broad daylight by a mysterious dying man named Ernie Ward. Ward, an ex-convict released from prison due to terminal cancer, claims thirty-one fingers pulled the trigger alongside his own—suggesting a conspiracy of revenge related to a decades-old payroll robbery.

The issue also contains "I Am the Law," a Satan Hall novelette by Carroll John Daly about a detective fighting a politically protected racketeer and the "1000 Club." Additional short stories include Lewis Utile's "The Invisible Hand," Norman A. Daniels' "The Killer and His Dead," Johnston McCulley's "Tubway Tham's Perfect Day" (about a subway pickpocket), and Arthur J. Burks' "Mr. Morpho," concerning a butterfly-collector named Lambert. A nonfiction feature by Robert Wallace examines handwriting expert Dave Carvalho's investigation of the Dreyfus case.