Bullet from Nowhere - Rated MA

The Pulp Preservation Project

A HARDBOILED SLEUTH IN TINSELTOWN

Experience the intrigue and spectacle of “BULLET FROM NOWHERE,” where Hollywood illusion collides with the legend of Mata Hari in a daring scene too provocative for American censors.

Step onto the set and witness secrets, artistry, and danger unfold beneath the studio lights.

from
DAN TURNER: HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE
December 1950

Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective was a pulp magazine that spun out of the immense popularity of Robert Leslie Bellem’s hardboiled character, Dan Turner. The title ran from 1942 to 1950, published by Culture Publications, and specialized in breezy, slang-filled detective yarns set against the glitzy but seedy backdrop of Hollywood. Turner was a wisecracking private eye who mixed tough talk with a relentless eye for trouble, often embroiled in cases that blended murder, scandal, and sensational showbiz intrigue.

The stories leaned heavily into colorful language—Turner’s slang-heavy narration was a hallmark—and offered readers a unique mix of crime fiction and satirical takes on Hollywood’s glamour and grime.

The magazine was also notable for its bold and often risqué presentation. Covers frequently depicted glamorous women in compromising or dangerous situations, emphasizing both sex appeal and menace, in keeping with the broader “spicy” pulp tradition. The stories themselves, while formulaic, were fast-paced and heavy on action, with Turner out-talking, out-fighting, and out-charming crooks and femmes fatales alike.

Though the magazine eventually faded with the decline of the pulp market in the early 1950s, Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective remains a memorable part of pulp history, representing the collision of hardboiled detective fiction with Hollywood excess, all delivered with a wink, a wisecrack, and a smoking gun.

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