The Dime Detectives

by Ron Goulart

Traces the history of detective fiction pulp magazines from their origins in the nineteenth-century dime novels to their heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, profiling many pulp writers who went on to achieve greater fame

Genres: Pulp, Nonfiction, History

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner.
Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award.

In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this concise, clever, insightful, and factual history of the development of the American school of detective writing in America from the early 20th Century through the '50s. Goulart is a great stylist and displays an infectious excitement for the material without ever lapsing into a fannish admiration. He's extremely straightforward with his observations and in most cases he relies on the quoted opinions of contemporaries, fans, and editors to place the work in historical context, rather than picking them apart psychologically or politically. This is a book not so much about text or subtext as about context; the content is viewed through the lens of overriding trends within the literature, rather than obsessively the way text-analysis would have it (the way you might expect, for instance, from a lit professor).

However, that said, there are enough insights, enough historical context, and enough observations on trends within the field to make Dime Detectives feel emotionally meaty and inspiring. Above all, Goulart's style is a pleasure to experience. The result is an immensely readable history that is a must-read for hardboiled fiction history buffs.

This is probably, so far, my favorite non-fiction work on crime fiction. Goulart's my new hero.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goulart includes many authors that you will want to follow. I like how he wrote little biographies on many of them. I had no idea what all the authors went through. Reading this history on the pulps sure makes me wish I was there during the time so many were available. I found so many authors that I had no idea existed until now. I also learned from this book why and when the pulps disappeared. That alone is reason to read this book.

[Viktor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much what the other 3 guys say. Good overview.
You'll find a lot of names that you'll want to look up, that's for sure.
I'll add that the pics are in b+w. Ugh.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

not finished. I will give 3 stars for it being well researched.