True Crime Detective Magazines

by Eric Godtland

Follows the evolution and devolution of this distinctly American genre from 1924 to 1969 At the height of the Jazz Age, when Prohibition was turning ordinary citizens into criminals and ordinary criminals into celebrities, America’s true crime detective magazines were born. True Detective came first in 1924, and by 1934, when the Great Depression had produced colorful outlaws like Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger, the magazines were so popular cops and robbers alike vied to see themselves on the pages. Even FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover wrote regularly for what came to be called the "Dickbooks," referring to a popular slang term for the police. As the decades rolled on, the magazines went through a curious metamorphosis, however. When liquor was once more legal, the Depression over and all the flashy criminals dead or imprisoned, the "detectives" turned to sin to make sales. Sexy bad girls in tight sweaters, slit skirts and stiletto heels adorned every cover. Coverlines shouted "I Was a Girl Burglar―For Kicks,""Sex Habits of Women Killers," "Bride of Sin!,""She Played Me for a Sucker," and most succinctly,"Bad Woman." True Crime Detective Magazines follows the evolution and devolution of this distinctly American genre from 1924 to 1969. Hundreds of covers and interior images from dozens of magazine titles tell the story, not just of the "detectives," but also of America’s attitudes towards sex, sin, crime and punishment over five decades. With texts by magazine collector Eric Godtland, George Hagenaur and True Detective editor Marc Gerald, True Crime Detective Magazines is an informative and entertaining look at one of the strangest publishing niches of all time. "My buddies wanted to be firemen, farmers or policemen, something like that. Not me, I just wanted to steal people’s money!" - JOHN DILLINGER

Genres: Crime, True Crime, Art, Pulp

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a coffee table book for people who want something a little edgier than, say, History of Art: Western Tradition sitting on their coffee tables. The authors briefly explore the development of true crime and detective magazines during their golden age, from the 1920s through the 1960s. The real attraction of the book, though, lies in the hundreds of covers and other illustrations from these magazines.

Who, for example, could possibly resist an issue of Detective Cases with a leggy brunette sporting very low-cut top on the cover and articles like "I was an International Call Girl", "Who Stuffed Judy's Corpse in the Trunk?", "A Knife in the Young Wife's Heart", "Murder Was His Hobby", and "His Best Friends Called Him 'Monster'"--especially when "All Stories [are] True"?

Sadly, you no longer see magazines of this quality on the newsstands and the world is probably sadder for it. But for those who would like a glimpse into this bygone age, this is doubtless a book not to be missed.

[Bart Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read a detective magazine, but saw this book in the clearance bins for only $5.00 (hardback). I bought it simply to peruse the covers. Granted, many of the 450 covers here are of women in various "bad girl" situations, from girlfriends of gangsters, to molls and thieves to drug fiends and women in distress(nearly always in bondage) so,these covers are also a peek into the more prurient tastes of male dominated media over the decades.
The book covers the history of detective magazines primarily from the 1920s -- 1969. Before each decade a short essay precedes the covers. The essays describe how America's interest in these magazines are a reflection on how women were viewed as we moved into the 20th Century. From helpless damsels in distress to wayward, tough women who smoked cigarettes openly in public, to liberated women who were just a tough as the fellows.
I found these essays fascinating reads and quite informative to a non-detective magazine reader such as myself.
The end of the book also contains some very nice, but brief, biographies on several writers of these stories as well as several biographies on the artists who worked on many of their covers.
One thing that is a bit odd is that the essays and biographies appear in English, German and French.
A fun read, that wil be quickly devoured b anyone with an interest in American publishing or interested in Women's history.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The layout is flawed because of the decision to have the text in three languages, rather than having different editions in different languages. We end up will awkward three column pages with each column in a different language, and the covers which are the main attraction here displayed as small thumbnails on these pages. Introductory essays are first presented in English, and are repeated in French and German, and these text walls displace a substantial number of pages that could be used to display more covers in full page format. There is also no attempt in the captions to indicate cover artists, even when signatures are visible.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dieses voluminöse Werk im quadratischen Sonderformat beschreibt die Entwicklung eines ganz besonderen Literaturgenres in den USA, den wahren Detektivgeschichten. In Europa hat sich diese Mischung aus Ermittlerakte, Groschenroman und Illustrierte nie so ganz durchsetzen können. Doch der Werdegang dieser Magazine ist erstaunlich, er begann nämlich bereits Anfang des 19.Jahrhunderts. Das Buch selbst beginnt allerdings erst ab 1924 und endet 1969.

Sex, Leidenschaft und echte Kriminalfälle, damit wurden diese Magazine zu einem Verkaufsschlager, der selbst die ungebildete Arbeiterschicht ans Lesen brachte. Der Leser konnte sich als Held und Ermittler fühlen oder seinen eher ausschweifenden Fantasien freien Lauf lassen. Natürlich lockten die aufreizenden Cover im Pin-Up Stil vor allem Männer an, ja, sogar Bondagefans, da gerne gefesselte Frauen abgebildet wurden. Die Illustrationen selbst erinnern sogar ab und zu an Filmplakate. In den 50er Jahren findet man bei den Frauen auf den Covern frappierende Ähnlichkeiten mit Ikonen wie Marilyn Monrow oder den Schlafzimmerblick von Marlene Dietrich.
Leider wurden die Zeichnungen später mehr und mehr durch reale Fotos ersetzt, was - in meinen Augen - den Charme der Cover minderte, denn unter den Illustratoren waren echte Künstler!

Interessanterweise entdeckt man in dieser Entwicklung von Magazinen auch Zeitzeugnisse der besonderen Art, kulturelle Umbrüche, welche die verschiedenen Jahrzehnte prägten. So galt zum Beispiel in den 40er-Jahren eine in der Öffentlichkeit rauchende Frau automatisch als verrucht, freizügig und lasziv. Später war das ein normaler Anblick. In unserer Zeit ist dagegen Rauchen eher unerwünscht.

Auch bei der Aufmachung der Magazine in den 60er-Jahren bemerkt man ganz deutlich das sich verändernde gesellschaftliche Gleichgewicht, die sich anbahnende Gleichberechtigung der Frau. Und die Cover wurden mehr in Richtung Popart gestaltet. Doch der Untergang dieser Magazingattung war bereits vorauszusehen, als die ehemals wahren Stories immer mehr von fiktiven Geschichten abgelöst wurden und die Magazine zu sündigen Schmierblättern verkamen, denn Sex and Crime verkaufte sich dank der vielen weiblichen Protagonisten, den Bad Girls, noch viele Jahre weiter.

Es lohnt sich wirklich, dieses beeindruckende Buch mehrmals zu lesen bzw. zu betrachten, allein schon wegen der über 450 abgebildeten Cover der unterschiedlichen Magazine. Die bekanntesten Autoren und Illustratoren werden darin ebenfalls vorgestellt. Auch wenn die Geschichten mit den Jahren immer reißerischer und sensationslüsterner wurden, eines wird von diesen Magazinen bleiben: Ein echter Kultstatus.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A coffee table book any gore hound would be thrilled to own. Thousands of true crime pulp magazine covers spanning the decades (Roaring Twenties? Psychedelic Sixties? Haw!) are on board. If you like pics showing cheap women killing sleazy guys then you'll be in Pulp Hell scanning this baby. Highly recommended - Taschen does it again!

[Ron S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The golden age of bad girls. Once prohibition was over, sin was in and never in more lurid form than this.