 | #025 "Fingers of Death"
Vol. 5, No. 1 Published: 03/01/33 Submitted: 09/16/32 under the same title Author: Walter Gibson Review date: Jan 05 2001 |
FINGERS OF DEATH was originally published in the March 1, 1933 issue of The Shadow Magazine. What are the "fingers of death?" Who controls them? Are they seeking new victims? And how are they made to bring doom to the innocent? These are all questions you'll find answered in this latest reprint of an old pulp Shadow mystery novel.
Old Josiah Bartram lies in his bed, fearing the approach of death. Surrounding him are his niece, young Grace Bartram, his faithful Hindu servant Mahinda, his family physician Doctor Felton Shores, and the family attorney Hurley Adams. Knowing that the end is near, old Josiah has given special instructions to his lawyer and niece. There is to be no ceremony, and he is to be buried in his own mausoleum beside the old house. Young Grace will inherit all, if she will continue to live in the old house and retain the services of the faithful Mahinda.
Old Josiah suddenly sits upright and screams out, "At my throat! Fingers of Death!" Then with a convulsive shudder, he falls back upon his pillows, dead. Those surrounding the death bed are in shock. They can't believe what they've seen. Those words hold mystic significance to at least one person present. What can they mean? Who will be next? And what's the mysterious secret that lies behind the fingers of death?
This is a wonderfully creepy Shadow mystery from the early years of the magazine's run. It was the 25th Shadow pulp mystery published. And, yes, it was reprinted in paperback form in the late 1960's. But this is NOT the paperback version; it was not scanned from the paperback. This is the original unedited pulp version, scanned directly from the old 1933 pulp magazine. You can be sure that the story you read is exactly as published! No editing!
In this story, Rutledge Mann gathers information and acts as contact man for The Shadow. Although the story states that "for a long while, now, he had been in the employ of this mysterious being," it was actually less than a year, in published time. His predecessor, Claude Fellows, had been killed off previously in the story entitled "GANGDOM'S DOOM." Mann had been introduced in the June 1932 story, "DOUBLE Z," only nine months before this story was published.