Mystery Puzzle History: The Progenitor Age: Photocrimes

The 1930s--The Golden Age of Detective Fiction!  

Detective stories, pulps, and crime stories were very popular in the 1930s.  Agatha Christie was the preeminent  mystery writer of the time and Sherlock Holmes was still a major influence. It was in this era that Photocrimes was created. 

Photocrimes was a feature in a newspaper consisting of photographs and text.  They starred Inspector Holt, who would solve the crime that was laid out in the paper.  The reader was tasked with coming up with the solution, then comparing it to the actual solution provided by Holt, which was printed elsewhere in the paper.  Solving the crime across the panels requires paying attention to the details of the case as written and the pictures themselves, as there are clues all throughout.  The reader cannot always solve everything about the crime, since the detective puts the clues and other evidence together in the story (including certain motives the reader does not know), however the reader does get to feel like they figured out some key evidence and matched wits with the detective!  

Photocrimes fits the definition of Mystery Puzzle Games -- it was based on solving a murder mystery and it was set up as both a puzzle and a game --the player must figure out the case with the clues provided.

Insurance clerk Dennis Horton conceived of the idea of Photocrimes and took his idea to the large British publisher, Odhams Press. (1) Weekly Illustrated published the first Photocrimes in 1935 and it became extremely popular. (1)  

Photocrimes was syndicated in America and on 20 Sep 1936, the Des Moine register published their first Photostory called "The Hanging in the Attic."  It was featured in Section 11 of the Sunday paper, alongside hollywood gossip, and other photo-heavy articles, 

"This is the first in a series of fictitious crimes in pictures for you to solve for your amusement." - 20 Sep 1936, The Des Moines Register, p76.

Clipping source: The Des Moines Register.  Des Moines, Iowa.  20 Sep 1936, Sun. Page 76

 

Photo source: The Des Moines Register.  Des Moines, Iowa.  20 Sep 1936, Sun. Page 78

On 30 Nov 1936, twenty-six of these photocrimes were collected into a book format called PHOTOCRIMES.  (6) They were listed under the authors Mileson Horton and Thomas Pembroke.  Those were the pen-names of Dennis Horton and Sir Henry Thomas Hopkinson--the editor of Picture Post. (2)

Photocrimes was printed through the years as a hardback book, a paperback book, and a digest.  It has been reprinted, but no further Photocrimes books were made.

Photocrimes was then syndicated as a feature in the Winnipeg Tribune, starting on 30 Jan 1937.

A short-run television program based on Photostories ran on the BBC from 1938-1939 called Tele-Crime, which even paused a moment near the end to let the viewer try to solve the crime before the solution was provided. 

Chicago native David Nowinson, writer of radio, television, and magazines, created a  "You Solve the Crime" series for Chicago Newspapers, which Look magazine took over in the 1940's and turned them into "Photocrime." (7)   This series seems to have also incorporated the Photo Crimes starring Detective Hobb that were independently created by  Harold Austin “Rip” Ripley, the creator of "Minute Mysteries."  (8)

In 1943, Alfred Hitchcock wrote and directed a photocrimes-style article for Look magazine called, "The Murder of Monty Woolley."  It consisted of 7 panels and used the actor Monty Woolley being murdered while preparing for a movie. (3) That was the only one he did at the time, but returned to Look magazine's photocrimes in 1955 shortly before his TV series was to air, and it included himself, Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day, and Daniel Gelin. (3)  He used his skills as a director to include such artful panels as the "mirror scene."

 

Image and notes from Hitchcock À la Carte.  Jan Olsson · 201

In 1944, Look Magazine collected 30 photocrimes together to publish their book version.

Photocrimes books (click links to purchase).  Out of print.  Sometimes used copies will appear at the links below. 

Photocrimes - Mileson Horton (1937) - out of print

Photocrime - The Editors of Look  (1944) - out of print

Sources

1. "Speaking of Pictures ... This Is a Photocrime". Life. January 18, 1937. pp. 4–5.
2. https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2006/11/mileson-horton.html
3. Olsson, J. (2015). Hitchcock À la Carte. United Kingdom: Duke University Press.
4. The Des Moines Register.  Des Moines, Iowa.  20 Sep 1936, Sun. Page 76
5. The Des Moines Register.  Des Moines, Iowa.  20 Sep 1936, Sun. Page 78
6. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [A] Group 1. Books. New Series. (1938). pp199.
7. The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. 29 Mar 1999, Mon.  Page 104.
8. Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976