“Compliments of the Domino
Lady!” In order to avenge the murder of her father, socialite Ellen Patrick
donned a domino mask, an evening dress and packed a .45. Running for six rare
stories in mid-1930s pulp magazines, these stories remain elusive. Now, these
are collected in an affordable edition, complemented by an all-new Afterword by
pulp historian Tom Johnson.
Complete Adventures of The
Domino Lady (Pulp Reprint)
By Lars Anderson
ISBN #978-1618273581
Price
$19.95
176
Pages
Rating
5-Stars
This beautiful volume
produced by ALTUS PRESS reprints the complete run of six issues of this popular
pulp heroine; only the second masked heroine to fight crime on her own merits.
Yes, there were several women detectives in the pulps, as well as the women who
fought beside their men, like The Spider’s Nita Van Sloan, or The Shadow’s Mira
Reldon, etc. In this volume are: The Domino Lady Collects; The Domino Lady
Doubles Back; The Domino Lady’s Handicap; Emeralds Aboard; Black Legend; and
The Domino Lady’s Double. The exciting cover is from the November 1936 issue of
Mystery Adventure Magazine, which contained The Domino Lady’s Double.
The Domino Lady is in reality,
a young socialite named Ellen Patrick. When her father, District Attorney Owen
Patrick is murdered, Ellen dons a black domino mask and goes after the
criminals of the city. She’s smart, sexy, and carries a .45 automatic, and a
syringe containing a knockout serum.
The six novelettes have
interesting plots, and Ellen Patrick follows in the footsteps of Johnston
McCulley’s The Masked Lady from 1921, the first woman to wear a mask and
evening dress to go after criminals more than a decade before The Domino Lady.
Personally, I don’t know why The Domino Lady wasn’t given her own magazine, and
a longer run? The stories were a lot of fun. New pulp authors have certainly
carried her over in modern day pulpy action, though they have her jumping in
bed with any and everyone. They really need to read the original stories to get
a real feel for the character. With this collection it is possible to finally
read the series in one setting, and I highly recommend this book to pulp fans,
and future Domino Lady scribes. Now you can read the real Domino Lady.
Tom
Johnson
Author
of The Man In The Black Fedora
