True Detective Mysteries: Eight "True Crime" Stories

One of the most successful periodicals in magazine history was True Detective Mysteries. An offshoot of publisher Bernarr Macfadden's True Story magazine, True Detective specialized in semifictionalizing real-life crime cases taken from police blotters and making them riveting reading, illustrated by posed photographs, newspaper morgue pics, and police mug shots. The concept was a natural. Circulation soared into the millions.

Before long, imitators followed in droves, leading to a new breed of entertainment that survives to this day under the catchall phrase of true crime magazines.

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