Crime Fighting Detective #16

During the lawless late 1920s in the Great Lakes region, Detective Hal "Two-Gun" Spencer investigates the murder of department store owner Frank Eldridge, shot outside his home by unknown gunmen. When Spencer witnesses the assassination of a local gambler named Lucky Schwartz and notices the striking physical resemblance between the two victims, he begins to suspect that Eldridge may have been killed by mistake—caught in crossfire meant for someone else entirely.

In "The Black Smoke Curse!!" from Crime Fighting Detective #16 (1951), detective King Cole steps in to protect the Ski-Hi Diamond Company’s valuable shipment for a million-dollar fee—only to be rejected, setting off a daring heist carried out by impostor firemen in the dead of night.

When Detective Larry Broderick is called to the Randolph mansion to protect a priceless Rembrandt painting, he finds himself caught in a baffling mystery—the artwork keeps vanishing and reappearing in different locations around the house, defying every rational explanation. As Broderick stakes out the gallery and questions the household staff, including the suspicious servant Jensen, he'll need all his detective skills to uncover who—or what—is behind the painting's strange disappearances. This eight-page crime tale from Crime Fighting Detective #16 (1951) puts Broderick's wits to the test against a puzzle that's far more unusual than your typical art heist.