Private Detective Stories, February 1949

Red-Hot Ice by R. Keene Lee dominates this February 1949 issue of Private Detective magazine. The complete feature novel concerns private investigator Fale, hired for five hundred dollars by Mrs. Hayes—a wealthy widow from Philadelphia—to recover the "Kimberley Rose," a twenty-five-carat red diamond worth approximately a quarter-million dollars. Stolen from her hotel room under mysterious circumstances (she was chloroformed during the night), the gem presents an intriguing case despite existing police and insurance-company investigations.

The issue also contains five short mystery stories: Joseph Commings' "Death Shapes the Frame," F.H.C. Butler's "Toy of Doom," Raymond Drennen Jr.'s "Murder on the Bench," Henry R. Wyman's "Blast and Be Damned," John Kane's "Homicide Horns In," and Hal Cross's "Redheads Spell Danger"—all variations on murder, theft, and criminal intrigue. Two serialized detective comics strips, "Sally the Sleuth" and "Jerry Jasper," complete the content.