The Red Finger Pulp Mystery Megapack
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Contents COPYRIGHT INFO . 3 A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER . 5 . THE MEGAPACK SERIES . 7 SECOND-HAND DEATH . 14 DEATH RIDES THE SOUND . 27. RED FINGER — DEATH DEALER . 41 . CAGED HORROR . 54 . DEATH’S RED FINGER . 63. RED FINGER MEETS HIS MATCH . 77 RED FINGER — SPY POISON! . 92 . LOCKED IN WITH DEATH . 107. DEATH’S TOY SHOP . .Sample . file . 122 ENVOY OF DOOM . 138 THE SPY WHO SOLD DEATH . 154 RED FINGER’S MURDER MESSENGER . 165 Contents | 2 COPYRIGHT INFO The Red Finger Mystery Megapack is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press, LLC . All rights reserved . The Arthur Leo Zagat copyrights are owned by John Betancourt and used with permission . Cover art © Andranik7 / Fotolia . * * * * “Second-Hand Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, Oc- tober 1934 . Copyright . Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc . “Death Rides the Sound” originally appeared in Operator #5, November 1934 . Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copyright renewed 1961 (renewal # R284909) . “Red Finger—Death Dealer” originally appeared in Operator #5, December 1934 . Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copyright renewed 1961 (renewal # R284967) . “Caged Horror” originally appeared in Operator #5, April 1935 . Copyright . Copyright © Sample1935 by Popular file Publications, Inc . Copy- right renewed 1962 (renewal # R304319) . “Death’s Red Finger” originally appeared in Operator #5, Sep- tember 1935 . Copyright © 1935 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copy- right renewed 1962 (renewal # R304480) . “Red Finger Meets His Match” originally appeared in Operator #5, March 1936 . Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copyright renewed 1963 (renewal # R325352) . “Red Finger—Spy Poison!” originally appeared in Operator #5, June/July 1936 . Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copyright renewed 1963 (renewal # R325441) . COPYRIGHT INFO | 3 “Locked in with Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, Au- gust 1936 . Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copy- right renewed 1963 (renewal # R325517) . “Death’s Toy Shop” originally appeared in Operator #5, January 1937 . Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copyright renewed 1964 (renewal # R348858) . “Envoy Of Doom” originally appeared in Operator #5, July/Au- gust 1937 . Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publications, Inc . Copy- right renewed 1964 (renewal # ) . “The Spy Who Sold Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, September/October 1937 . Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publica- tions, Inc . Copyright renewed 1964 (renewal # R348688) . “Red Finger’s Murder Messenger” originally appeared in Opera- tor #5, March/April 1938 . Copyright © 1938 by Popular Publica- tions, Inc . Copyright renewed 1965 (renewal # R372389) . Sample file COPYRIGHT INFO | 4 A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER Red Finger! In the spy vs . spy world of the late 1930s, this masked hero prowled the underworld, dressed in an “amorphous fluttering black robe, bat-like, [with] a gray-masked head through whose twin eye-slits menace glinted .” But it was not so much the costume as the “hand, ebony-black in its glove—but for the finger curled around the trigger of that gun. That finger was not black but vividly, awesomely scarlet .” (From “Caged Horror .”) Powerful stuff in those days! Arthur Leo Zagat (1896-1949) was a prolific pulp writer (by my estimates he authored more than 500 stories) . Trained in the law, he gave it up to write . During the last two decades of his life, Zagat wrote short stories prolifically. His work appeared in a variety of pulp magazines, including Thrilling Wonder Stories, Argosy, Dime Mystery Magazine, Horror Stories, Operator No. 5, Astounding, and he wrote the “Doc Turner” stories that regularly appeared in The Spider pulp magazine throughout the 1930s . A novel, Seven Out of Time, was published bySample Fantasy Press file in 1949, the year he died . Had he lived longer, he undoubtedly would have made the transition to paperbacks and been a highly successful novelist . Wildside Press tracked down and purchased Arthur Leo Zagat’s literary estate from his daughter in July 2014 . His work had been widely pirated on the internet (even by companies that should have known better) because his estate was deemed “lost .” Now Wildside is preparing new, definitive texts of his works, so look for many more Arthur Leo Zagat titles from Wildside in coming months . —John Betancourt Publisher, Wildside Press LLC www .wildsidepress .com A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 5 ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook antholo- gies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors . (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?” The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort . Everyone at Wildside works on them . This includes John Be- tancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A .E . Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors… who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!) A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are some- times at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader .) RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY? Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a fa- vorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies .ningSample .com/forum file (there is an area for Wildside Press comments) . Note: we only consider stories that have already been profession- ally published . This is not a market for new works . TYPOS Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through . We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months .) It may have already been updated . If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for every- one . You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo .com or use the message boards above . A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 6 THE MEGAPACK SERIES MYSTERY The Achmed Abdullah Megapack The Bulldog Drummond Megapack* The Carolyn Wells Mystery Megapack The Charlie Chan Megapack* The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack The Detective Megapack The Father Brown Megapack The Girl Detective Megapack The Second Girl Detective Megapack The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack* The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack* The Jacques Futrelle Megapack The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack The First Mystery MegapackSample file The Second Mystery Megapack The Penny Parker Megapack The Philo Vance Megapack* The Pulp Fiction Megapack The Raffles Megapack The Sherlock Holmes Megapack The Victorian Mystery Megapack The Wilkie Collins Megapack GENERAL INTEREST The Adventure Megapack The Baseball Megapack THE MEGAPACK SERIES | 7.