A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1885 — all 32 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 32 pages · 1885

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End

1885 · Free to read

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 2 of 32 — 2 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 3 of 32 — 3 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 4 of 32 — 4 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 5 of 32 — 5 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 6 of 32 — 6 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 7 of 32 — 7 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 8 of 32 — 8 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 9 of 32 — 9 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 11 of 32 — 11 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 12 of 32 — 12 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 14 of 32 — 14 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 15 of 32 — 15 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 18 of 32 — 18 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 19 of 32 — 19 / 32

The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 20 of 32 — 20 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 22 of 32 — 22 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 25 of 32 — 25 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 27 of 32 — 27 / 32

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The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End — page 32 of 32 — 32 / 32

About this issue

This issue of a weekly story paper from November 25, 1885, contains "The Dusky Detective" by Albert W. Aiken. The serialized narrative opens with a police patrol boat on New York's Hudson River discovering the body of a beautiful young blonde woman caught on floating timber. She bears no identifying marks or jewelry, and the sergeant concludes she committed suicide. The body is taken to the morgue, where a portrait painter named Marcus Wintergreen sketches her face, believing she embodies the perfect Madonna he's long sought to paint. Nobody claims the body, and it's eventually moved to Potter's Field. The narrative then shifts to a hidden stone vault beneath the city, where two men meet—one a smoker at a crude table, the other a well-dressed gentleman entering through a concealed stone door operated by hidden machinery. The two discuss "the bird" and money; the smoker expresses desire to abandon their scheme, while the gentleman attempts to dissuade him, hinting at criminal conspiracy.

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