Private Detective Stories, February 1948

# Museum Catalog Entry

This issue of Private Detective Stories features the complete novelette "Killer on Sight" by Norman Daniels. The story concerns private investigator Jim Talbot, hired by wealthy businessman Carlyle Atterbury to retrieve his wayward twenty-year-old daughter Marietta from a nightclub. Talbot locates Marietta at Gus Hanna's establishment, an upscale gambling joint with an honest front. She refuses to leave, claiming her intention to marry Hanna despite Talbot's objections. After a confrontation with one of Hanna's armed torpedoes, Talbot pursues Marietta upstairs, where he hears gunshots. He discovers Marietta shot dead in Hanna's office. A young man, later identified as Harry Chapin, flees the scene. Investigating further, Talbot finds a dead uniformed officer in the alley behind the club. The narrative combines elements of hard-boiled detective and crime fiction with detailed period-specific dialogue and settings.