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The Spicy Mystery MEGAPACK ®: 25 Tales from the "Spicy" Pulps Kindle Edition

by Hugh B. Cave (Author), Victor Rousseau (Author), Atwater Culpepper (Author), Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 84 ratings
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This volume of Wildside Press's best-selling MEGAPACK® series focuses on tales first published in the "Spice" line of pulp magazines. Here are 25 mystery tales considered quite titillating in their day, but mild by modern standards. 
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  1. Print length
    397 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Wildside Press
  5. Publication date
    August 27, 2015
  6. File size
    656 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B3DZB4NC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wildside Press (August 27, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 27, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 656 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 397 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 84 ratings

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
84 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Fiona Starkov
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
I liked most of the stories, some more than others. Stories written 90 years ago have a different feel from what I typically read and see today.I will take a much closer look at these MegaPack collections, which offer great value for their price
One person found this helpful
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James Elfers
4.0 out of 5 stars What Grandpa or Great-Grandpa Read On the Sly
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2022
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"Spicy" fiction consisted of stories written for "red-blooded" men for personal "Stimulation." Today most of these would be rated PG-13 r a light R at best. They seem almost quaint in an age where erotica of all kinds can be found with a simple web search. In their day, these stories were hot stuff. The magazines in which they appeared were usually sold under the counter. This was your grandfather's or great-grandfather's "Playboy."
The stories almost always have an "inventory scene" where our narrator gives a breakdown of the ingenue's physical charms no matter how she is dressed. Conveniently, our hard-boiled Dicks often encounter, say, the wayward young wife or the perky, pretty nurse in negligees or just a bra and panties. Total nudity is a rarity. The editors liked to give the girls at least a hint of modesty. Usually, you don't have to be Agatha Christie to solve the crimes, titilation is the main thing. Still, if one is in the right mood, some of these stories still "do the trick," if you catch my drift and you will find yourself enjoying them just as much as gramps did.
23 people found this helpful
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Lorie B
3.0 out of 5 stars A Little Dated - Some Can Read Like Parodies
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2024
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Not a collection of stories I could read cover to cover. They got repetitious and maybe just too far removed in time. Many of them read like 'tough guy' noir parodies. A few writers were clever enough to get around what might've been a strict 'morality code' formula from the 1930s.

Formula seemed simple & might be summarized as follows:

Protagonist meets damsel in distress or femme-fatale. (Sometimes female is the lead and a criminal type is the antagonist.) At some point, male character gets a look at a woman's breasts, or underwear. The couple might do a bit of kissing. Description does nothing to advance the plot, so maybe mild erotica for back then.

Space limited in magazines, so the plots are very compressed. Conflict quickly resolved with no mistakes or false leads. Climax/resolution is also the ending. No deescalation or wrapping things up.

As mentioned, I thought the best stories were the ones where the writers found ways to get around the strict formula & morality codes. Crime or 'loose morals' can't be shown to pay, but if the protagonist isn't the 'all-American ideal' he or she can still come out on top if antagonist is an even worse type of criminal.

For example, a lounge singer refuses the advances of a US Navy officer. She extorts him for money to pay for her passage home from Pearl Harbor to New York. He must agree because she has evidence he's a bigamist. Apparently, in the 1930s, being a 'disreputable' lounge singer was regarded as less of a social evil than bigamy and bringing dishonor to the navy officer corps.

Bottom line:

Not a collection I could read cover to cover; the plots were too repetitive. They're fun stories to read every once in a while. Had to look up some of the slang used back then. It's nice they've been preserved in digital format.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining mystery listening 🎶🔰
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2023
Verified Purchase
Another twenty-five will written pulp fiction mysteries short stories by various authors. Each story line is different with interesting characters lots of action and violence leading to the unexpected conclusions. I would recommend this Megapack to readers looking for something different in mystery novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read books 📚.. 2023 😮👒😡😕

A classic pulp fiction mystery Megapack. Happy reading in 2023🌙
5 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great collection
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023
Verified Purchase
You should enjoy reading these short stories about cops, robbers, and sexy dames.
These writers made their living submitting short mystery stories for tame men's magazines.
Nice little mysteries and colorful language from a bygone period.
2 people found this helpful
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