Hot Music by Vic Whitman
Hot Music by Vic Whitman is a pulp-era detective short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on a radio policeman entangled with the hot jazz scene, where a pair of high-society jewel robberies intersect with a celebrated dance band. The likely topic is a crafty investigation that exposes how crime, music, and ego collide. The story follows Officer Dave Cates, a police radio announcer who takes it upon himself
to probe the thefts from widow Mrs. Van Goss and violinist Miriam Meusel. Suspects cluster around bandleader Leo Archer’s circle: smooth manager Gerald Terhune, wealthy idler Arthur Hughes, and the secret of a spare apartment key. A faint smear of rosin near Meusel’s violin, a phone call that lured Van Goss out, and a bellhop’s delivery to Archer’s office point Cates to a bold theory: Archer steals for the thrill that fuels his composing. At the Charity Ball, Cates quietly signals headquarters as the band launches the new number “Hot Music,” prompting Archer to rush to his office safe—where police recover all the jewels. Terhune and Meusel are revealed to be secretly married, Hughes is cleared, and Cates earns both reward and a hopeful future with dancer Anabelle Talbot. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Whitman, Vic (Victor Sargent), 1901-1981 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Hutchison, D. C. (David Chapel), 1869-1954 |
| Illustrator | Soto, Rafael M. de, 1904-1992 |
| Title | Hot Music |
| Original Publication | New York: Street & Smith Corporation, 1929. |
| Note | Produced from the First September Number of Top-Notch magazine. |
| Credits | Prepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Jewelry theft -- Fiction |
| Subject | Police -- Fiction |
| Subject | Radio broadcasting -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77893 |
| Release Date | Feb 9, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 177 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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