Doctor Death was an archcriminal who wanted to return the world to a primitive condition and used supernatural tools such as zombies and magic in his plots against humanity.

[1][2] Three more stories featuring Doctor Death appeared in All Detective, ending with "Thirteen Pearls" in the January 1935 issue, in which the character was killed.

[2][1] All Detective changed its name to Doctor Death the following month;[1] the lead story in the first issue of the retitled magazine, dated February 1935, was 12 Must Die,[3] with the author listed as "Zorro" (a pseudonym for Harold Ward).

[2] It is unclear whether Dell intended there to be continuity between the two versions of Dr. Death: Robert Weinberg, a historian of science fiction, comments that Rance Mandarin is "an entirely different" character from the earlier villain,[2] but Michael Cook, a historian of detective magazines, argues that since the first issue of Dr. Death followed directly after the last issue of All Detective, "the connection is likely but not confirmed".

The May issue was announced in the magazine but did not appear; the lead Doctor Death novel would have been Murder Music, originally titled Waves of Madness by Ward.

[3] His superior, John Ricks, the Police Chief of New York, is a "typical pulp stereotype of the hard-boiled old-fashioned inspector", according to Weinberg.

[2] Joseph Lewandowski, a magazine historian, considers the first novel the best of the three published in the 1930s, but suggests that Murder Music is better than any of the other four: "The opening chapter is ... extremely effective in setting the mood ... it compares well with what Walter Gibson was doing along these lines with his Shadow stories".