The Living Shadow
The Living Shadow is the first pulp novel to feature The Shadow. Written by Walter B. Gibson, it was submitted for publication as Murder in the Next Room on January 23, 1931, and published as The Living Shadow in the April 1, 1931 issue of The Shadow Magazine. This story introduces the literary version, as opposed to the radio version, of The Shadow.
Publishing history
Because of this story's significance as the first Shadow story, it has been reprinted more times than any other Shadow tale; the reprintings include:- Street and Smith, The Ideal Library hardcover, 1931
- The Shadow Magazine 1942 Annual
- Bantam Books mass-market paperback, 1969
- Pyramid Books mass-market paperback, 1974
- Jove Books mass-market paperback, 1977
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Summary
- Shadow Disguises: himself, Fritz the janitor, various street people in Chinatown, Ling Chow, English Johnny.
- Shadow Agents: Harry Vincent, Claude Fellows.
- Villains: Ezekiel Bingham, Steve Cronin, Diamond Bert Farwell.
- Other Characters: Joe Cardona.
- Plot: Harry Vincent, saved from suicide by The Shadow, is recruited to watch Scanlon, courier for Wang Foo, the Chinatown mastermind. Cronin murders Scanlon, but fails to find the metal Chinese disk Scanlon uses as an identifier. Vincent finds the disk, poses as the courier, is exposed, captured, tortured, and saved by The Shadow. Millionaire Geoffrey Laidlow is killed for his hidden jewels; the rest of the story involves searching for Laidlow's killer, and the killer searching for the jewels, to be fenced with the Chinatown mastermind. In the end, the criminal mastermind's lawyer Ezekiel Bingham, is free and unpunished. Diamond Bert Farwell, exposed as Wang Foo, goes to jail.
Reception