Pulp Gallery: DETECTIVE FICTION WEEKLY (1938)

 

Now in AHMM: Daffy Dill and and Candid Jones in "FLASH!" by Richard Sale!

When AHMM Editor Linda Landrigan invited me to select and introduce a story for the magazine's Mystery Classic department, the choice was a no-brainer.

"Flash!" - from the May 29, 1937 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly, is one of my pulp favorites, and a great introduction to reporter Daffy Dill (one of my favorite pulp characters) and author Richard Sale (one of my favorite pulp writers). And as a bonus, it also features Sale's number two DFW hero, hardboiled photographer Candid Jones.

The storytelling itself is special because "Flash!" contains not a single word of ordinary prose. It's told entirely in the form of letters, telegrams, news reports, radio bulletins and one-sided telephone calls. And as those familiar with Daffy have come to expect, it's both funny and fun.

You'll find all this, plus my two-page Intro yapping about Richard Sale's life and career, in the just-out June 2015 issue of AHMM. Where can you get a copy? As you may recall when I was hyping "The Continental Opposite" (in the May issue), AHMM is carried by most Barnes and Noble stores, and is offered in a variety of eFormats by Amazon (HERE), B&N (HERE), Google Play (HERE) and Magzter (HERE).

And in case you missed it, I said a few words about Mr. Sale, along with Hammett, Cleve F. Adams, Lester Dent and others on the AHMM blog a while back. That's HERE.

"Long Shot" - The FIRST Candid Jones story by Richard Sale

Here's part 3 of our second 3-part salute to Richard Sale. On Friday I reviewed Sale's second novel, Is A Ship Burning, and yesterday I posted three Detective Fiction Weekly covers in a Candid Jones Cover Gallery.

Candid was Richard Sale's second busiest series character. I'm not sure how many stories he appeared in. I believe I have eight featuring Candid alone, plus two team-ups with Daffy Dill.  If anyone has a list of all the Candid stories, I'd sure like to see it.

By the time Candid made his debut in this January 9, 1937 issue, Daffy Dill had already appeared in at least 16 adventures. Thanks to a list compiled by collector Monte Herridge, I now know that Daffy starred in at least 55 stories (plus the two team-ups).

Why was Daffy more popular? Well, he was just daffier, I guess. Daffy's way with words is more distinct, sometimes bordering on the outlandish, while Candid is a more traditional hardboiled narrator. That's not meant as a criticism, because Sale does a fine job here. I offer the comparison only as an explanation for why Candid toiled in Daffy's shadow. If you haven't met Daffy, you should check out the story I posted a while back, "A Dirge for Pagliaccio".

Be advised: No pulp magazines were harmed in the production of this post. This story came to me twenty some years ago just as you see it, the pages already removed from the mag. I was buying a lot of pulps with Sale stories at the time, and some kindly dealer threw it in as a bonus.

Candid Jones Cover Gallery

1937

1937

1937

Tune in tomorrow for the FIRST Candid Jones story, "Long Shot".