The Shadow 292 Three Stamps of Death
Maxwell Grant
THREE STAMPS OF DEATH was published in the June 1945 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Three strange foreign postage stamps. That's around what our mystery revolves. What makes these over-sized stamps from the British Solomon Islands worth the lives of three men? It will take The Shadow to uncover the secret behind these three stamps of death.
The owner of the three unique orange-colored stamps is Gary Barden, a discharged war veteran. As this story was published, World War II was in its final stages. The military wasn't sending home soldiers yet, unless they were injured. That's what happened to Gary Barden. He was injured in the European invasion and sent home on a hospital ship.
Barden has been home for months now, and has recuperated. But lately he has started receiving mysterious letters from an unknown person named Paul Prentham from somewhere in the Solomon Islands. He doesn't know any Paul Prentham. The contents of the letters provide no clues. But the stamps on the letters may be a clue to the identity of the unknown Paul Prentham.
Gary Barden takes the stamps to a dealer in rare stamps, in the hopes of gaining a clue to the source of the letters. At Delancey's Stamp Mart he meets the lovely young Marcia Larrimore, who works behind the counter. He's smitten with her, but disappointed to find out nothing about the stamps themselves. They are common Solomon Island stamps worth less than two dollars each.
Even though the stamps are nearly valueless, someone wants them. Someone who will commit murder. Intrigue follows young Gary Barden. He's being watched, but he doesn't know by who. Someone named Eric Holbart has been posing as Gary Barden. Who is Eric Holbart and why is he pretending to be Gary Barden?
Eric Holbart is murdered in Barden's brownstone apartment, and Barden finds the body. But that's just the beginning. There will be more deaths. And Barden will be swept into the whirlpool of intrigue. It will take The Shadow to save him from the enemy agents who seek the three mysterious stamps. It will take The Shadow to uncover the reason for their perplexing value. It will take The Shadow to unmask the hidden powers behind the sinister plotting.
Gary Barden is the proxy hero in this mystery, and Marcia Larrimore is a quasi-proxy heroine. They are aided by The Shadow in his oft-used guise of Lamont Cranston. Other recurring characters also appearing in the story are Inspector Joe Cardona and Commissioner Ralph Weston. Moe Shrevnitz, erstwhile cab-driver, makes several brief appearances, although he is called "Shrevvy" here. Burbank makes one appearance, and other than that, no other agents appear. At least by name. Several unnamed agents appear several times, but we aren't told who they are. The action is carried mostly by The Shadow, with some help from Gary Barden and Marcia Larrimore.
It's interesting to note that Lamont Cranston is described as a "former" world-wide traveler. Apparently the turmoil across the globe at that time made continuing his world-travels impossible. One would anticipate that when the conflict ended, Cranston would once again become a world traveler. As we know, however, this didn't seem to happen.
One important fact around which our mystery revolves is that during war-time, certain stamps were illegal to collect or own. These were stamps that were from enemy countries. Stamps from Germany or Japan, for example, that were issued after America declared war in 1941 were illegal to collect. These were known as "enemy stamps" and were sought after by black-market stamp collectors.
Exactly how illegal stamps fit into this mystery won't be explained here. But let's just say that the crux of the mystery revolves around counterfeit stamps as well as illegal enemy stamps. That plus secret agents working for enemy governments who are not above counterfeiting their own country's stamps. A most sinister combination which only The Shadow can thwart.
This is a shorter Shadow mystery, being only 30,000 words in length. Most Shadow pulp mysteries were in the mid-forty thousand range. But it's a quick and enjoyable Shadow read.
The owner of the three unique orange-colored stamps is Gary Barden, a discharged war veteran. As this story was published, World War II was in its final stages. The military wasn't sending home soldiers yet, unless they were injured. That's what happened to Gary Barden. He was injured in the European invasion and sent home on a hospital ship.
Barden has been home for months now, and has recuperated. But lately he has started receiving mysterious letters from an unknown person named Paul Prentham from somewhere in the Solomon Islands. He doesn't know any Paul Prentham. The contents of the letters provide no clues. But the stamps on the letters may be a clue to the identity of the unknown Paul Prentham.
Gary Barden takes the stamps to a dealer in rare stamps, in the hopes of gaining a clue to the source of the letters. At Delancey's Stamp Mart he meets the lovely young Marcia Larrimore, who works behind the counter. He's smitten with her, but disappointed to find out nothing about the stamps themselves. They are common Solomon Island stamps worth less than two dollars each.
Even though the stamps are nearly valueless, someone wants them. Someone who will commit murder. Intrigue follows young Gary Barden. He's being watched, but he doesn't know by who. Someone named Eric Holbart has been posing as Gary Barden. Who is Eric Holbart and why is he pretending to be Gary Barden?
Eric Holbart is murdered in Barden's brownstone apartment, and Barden finds the body. But that's just the beginning. There will be more deaths. And Barden will be swept into the whirlpool of intrigue. It will take The Shadow to save him from the enemy agents who seek the three mysterious stamps. It will take The Shadow to uncover the reason for their perplexing value. It will take The Shadow to unmask the hidden powers behind the sinister plotting.
Gary Barden is the proxy hero in this mystery, and Marcia Larrimore is a quasi-proxy heroine. They are aided by The Shadow in his oft-used guise of Lamont Cranston. Other recurring characters also appearing in the story are Inspector Joe Cardona and Commissioner Ralph Weston. Moe Shrevnitz, erstwhile cab-driver, makes several brief appearances, although he is called "Shrevvy" here. Burbank makes one appearance, and other than that, no other agents appear. At least by name. Several unnamed agents appear several times, but we aren't told who they are. The action is carried mostly by The Shadow, with some help from Gary Barden and Marcia Larrimore.
It's interesting to note that Lamont Cranston is described as a "former" world-wide traveler. Apparently the turmoil across the globe at that time made continuing his world-travels impossible. One would anticipate that when the conflict ended, Cranston would once again become a world traveler. As we know, however, this didn't seem to happen.
One important fact around which our mystery revolves is that during war-time, certain stamps were illegal to collect or own. These were stamps that were from enemy countries. Stamps from Germany or Japan, for example, that were issued after America declared war in 1941 were illegal to collect. These were known as "enemy stamps" and were sought after by black-market stamp collectors.
Exactly how illegal stamps fit into this mystery won't be explained here. But let's just say that the crux of the mystery revolves around counterfeit stamps as well as illegal enemy stamps. That plus secret agents working for enemy governments who are not above counterfeiting their own country's stamps. A most sinister combination which only The Shadow can thwart.
This is a shorter Shadow mystery, being only 30,000 words in length. Most Shadow pulp mysteries were in the mid-forty thousand range. But it's a quick and enjoyable Shadow read.
Anno:
1945
Casa editrice:
Street & Smith
Lingua:
english
File:
EPUB, 180 KB
IPFS:
,
english, 1945
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