Chapter 3
340 Words
Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a dime-novel private detective in 1886 and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century. He first appeared in the story paper New York Weekly (Vol. 41 No. 46, September 18, 1886) in a 13-week serial, The Old Detective’s Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square.
New York WeeklyThe Old Detective’s Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison SquareThe character was conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell. The character proved popular enough to headline its own magazine, Nick Carter Weekly. The serialized stories in Nick Carter Weekly were also reprinted as stand-alone titles under the New Magnet Library imprint.
Nick Carter WeeklyNick Carter WeeklyBy 1915, Nick Carter Weekly had ceased publication and Street & Smith had replaced it with Detective Story Magazine, which focused on a more varied cast of characters. There was a brief attempt at reviving Carter in 1924–27 in Detective Story Magazine, but it was not successful.
Nick Carter WeeklyDetective Story MagazineDetective Story MagazineIn the 1930s, due to the success of The Shadow and Doc Savage, Street & Smith revived Nick Carter in a pulp magazine (called Nick Carter Detective Magazine) that ran from 1933 to 1936. Since the Doc Savage character had basically been given Nick’s background, Nick Carter was now recast as a hard-boiled detective. Novels featuring Carter continued to appear through the 1950s, by which time there was also a popular radio show, Nick Carter, Master Detective, which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System network from 1943 to 1955.
The ShadowDoc SavageNick Carter Detective MagazineNick Carter, Master Detective, A Cigarette Clue (originally published in 1905 as A Cigarette Clew, using the archaic spelling) has been lightly edited to modernize language and punctuation.
A Cigarette ClueA Cigarette ClewEnjoy!
—John Betancourt
Cabin John, Maryland
- Writer
