Mystery and Crime Various: Speed Detective Sampler. V1. 28 Nov 2011

[crutledge]

Spicy Detective Stories was one of the notorious Spicy pulps published by Culture Publications in the late 1930s which concentrated on a simple formula - fast action stories laced with sex. It ran for nine years under that title before the forces of reform forced it to change to the rather more sedate Speed Detective.
Note that from late 1935 through late 1937, most issues appeared in two different versions - one uncensored and the other self-censored. The censored version was identifiable by a star within a box located at the top of the cover. Little information is known about the differences between these issues but some, at least, contained different stories and possibly had different covers. The covers for the censored versions are displayed in parallel below the uncensored covers.
A spoof cover was also produced purporting to be an issue from the 1960's, with artwork based on the April 1937 issue of Spicy Mystery Stories, but precise details are unclear at the moment.

HALF-SIZE HOMICIDE—ROBERT LESLIE BELLAM

Dan wasn’t even working for the movie star when she slapped his face and fired him in the most public way possible! To make matters worse, the whole thing was right under the nose of the gabbiest gossip columnist in Hollywood.

OLLIE FISHES A BLACKOUT—HAROLD DE POLO

The cry of pain and fear and brain-numbed surprise was almost terrifying.

DRAFT DODGER—E. HOFFMAN PRICE

"The gut's nutty," the whole town said—as if that were explanation enough why the draft board should classify an able-bodied man as 4F. What did they know about the hunting accident years ago that had made the very sight of guns a thing to recoil from?

REFUGEE SHIP—LEW MERRILL

In the guise of a Czech exile, Carter watched the passengers. Among them, he knew, was a Nazi spy. Somewhere among them, too, was the man earmarked for Gestapo vengeance.

STOCK SHOT—ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM

As much as he disapproves of murder, Dan Turner hates blackmail even more. And as much as he loves a client who puts cash on the line, Dan’s common sense tells him there’s little percentage in trying to cover up for a killer . All of these factors, and more, confront him in The Case of the Millionaire Producer with the Puritanical Sweetheart.

STARS DIE AT NIGHT—ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM

If you tangle with a burglar and a corpse—both of them female and beautiful and very prominent—you’re apt to steam four ways at once, the way Dan Turner did.

SUICIDE STUNT—ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM

A special kind of trap had been provided to guarantee a most spectacular ending for the male movie star. And the killer suspects had figured some highly colorful dodges in order to confound Dan Turner, the surging shamus of this cinemaland!

HOMICIDE SURPRISE . . .—ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM

Dan Turner was out for the gravy, and he got it—right in the kisser! Which made Hollywood’s ace private dick almost as mad as the corpse’s bodyguard, who, in friendly fashion, beat the bejunior out of his pal Dan. All in all, it was the whackiest murder case in his career!

LATIN BLOOD—ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM

Dan Turner got himself “engaged” to a girl he didn’t even know, in order to keep two jealous hambos from knifing each other—and the tough shamus’ reward for this bit of chivalry was to wake up finding a murder rap pinned on himself and the frame-up mounting in fury!