(Real) Detective Tales (and Mystery Stories)
Real Detective Tales is one of the most elusive of the early detective pulps. It began in late 1922 under the name Detective Tales as a standard-sized pulp and published indifferent mystery and detective stories. In 1923 it acquired a companion magazine concentrating on the fantastic - the famous Weird Tales - and both magazines ran in parallel until mid-1924 when the publisher, Rural Publications, ran into difficulty.
At that point Detective Tales was sold to Real Detective Tales, Inc. and changed its name, first to Real Detective Tales and then to Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories. By this point it had shifted to a large (quarto) format and had acquired an interesting stable of authors including Seabury Quinn, George Allan England and Miriam Allen de Ford. It ran for six years under this latter title (mainly on a monthly basis) but gradually during 1931 transformed into a non-fiction magazine called Real Detective, although fiction continued to appear into 1934 at least. It is not currently known exactly when the last issue containing any fiction appeared.
IN THE FOG—SEABURY QUINN
A Story of Bizarre Mystery
JUSTICE GETS A BREAK—AL BROMLEY
A five-minute story of Siamese twins and a keen-eyed cop