At the height of the Jazz Age, when Prohibition was turning ordinary citizens into
criminals and ordinary criminals into celebrities, America's true crime detective
magazines were born. True Detective came first in 1924, and by 1932, when the
Great Depression had produced colorful outlaws like Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie
and Clyde, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger, the magazines were so popular
cops and robbers alike vied to see themselves on the pages. Even FBI boss J. Edgar
Hoover wrote regularly for what came to be called the "Dickbooks", referring to a
popular slang term for the police. True Detective, American Detective, Inside Detective,
Real Detective, Master Detective, Startling Detective and others were at their peak in
the '30s, with gorgeous painted covers and Jim Thompson covering the crime beat.
As the decades rolled on, the magazines went through a curious metamorphosis,
however. When liquor was once more legal, the Depression over and all the flashy
criminals dead or imprisoned, the "detectives" turned to sin to make sales. Sexy bad
girls in tight sweaters, slit skirts and stiletto heels adorned every cover. Coverlines
shouted "I Was a Girl Burglar - For Kicks", "Sex Habits of Women Killers," "Bride of
Sin!," "She Played Me for a Sucker," and most succinctly, "Bad Woman."
