March 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

March 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~ Tom Curry, “The Gang”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 2nd of 7, 21st of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Egyptian Lure”, 22nd of 53 with RW,‘The Name Race Williams Stand for Service’, 31st of 71 appearances in BM

~ Bob Du Soe, “All Over a Pup”, ‘waterfront bum takes on hijackers because of a dog’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Whispering Feet”, 20th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Soo Hoo Duck & Ngat T’oy, ‘see endnote, p.73, for data on series’, 30th of 99 stories in BM

~ Henry Leverage, “The Clue Upstairs”, ‘Big Scar, yegg, just out of stir‘, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Anderson McCully, “The Masked Trail”, ‘story of the Far North’, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Bentley B. MacCay, “Bullfrogs”, ‘Louisiana tale’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “Killers Should Run”, ‘Western’, 3rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Wilber Wheeler [see Riblew Reelhew, Mar & May ’27], “The Trail of Sudden Death”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 2 under this name in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

February 1933 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

February 1933 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ S. Omar Barker, “Two-Way Trick”, ‘Sheriff John Lonsdale, modern Western’, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ William E. Barrett, “Behind the Star”, ‘Black Bart Doyle, chief of detectives & Michael Costigan, chief of police’, only original story in BM (there is one reprint of a story from another source, Mar. ‘51)

~ Charles G. Booth, “Sister Act”, Det. Blair & Joe Ricardo; reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946), 6th of 7 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Hour of the Rat”, 47th of 73 Ed Jenkins in Chinatown with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy; ‘the “hour” is 11pm (Chinese time cycle)’, 68th of 99 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Doors in the Dark”, 19th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), reprinted in Shakedown: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 44 of 67 stories in BM

~ Norvell Page, “Those Catrini”, ‘1st of 3 Jules Tremaine stories; Little Italy; (ed. note) a projected & potentially important series that never developed’ [Hagemann doesn’t explain his editor’s note], only these 3 stories in BM. Reprinted in Black Harvest: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jules Tremaine (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ William Rollins, Jr., “K.O. Comes Clean”, 1st of 4 stories with ‘Kenneth Osborne from ‘No’th Cah’lina’; 1st person narrator’, 18th of 23 stories in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Ball and Chain”, ‘5th (of 25) Jerry Tracy capers, columnist on the (NYC) Planet, ‘mixer with poor and rich, the crooked and the straight, trailer of trouble and happiness’, 5th of 26 stories in BM. Reprinted in South Wind: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy (Steeger Books, 2021).

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1932 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

June 1932 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Thomson Burtis, “They Don’t Shake Hands in Arkansas”, ‘Slats Kirke in Detroit’, 4th of 6 appearances in BM

~ Paul Cain, “Velvet”, ‘Kells & Granquist; part 3 of Fast One’, reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), Black Mask: The Complete Stories (2013 Mysterious Press), Lead Party: The Complete Fiction Works of Paul Cain (Steeger, 2024), 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 45th of 53 with Race Williams, part 3 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, reprinted in If Death is Respectable: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.4 (Altus, 2018), 57th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Reform Racket”, ‘Dan Stiles; one-time gunman’, 1st of 13 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Cooking Crooks”, 44th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘with Norma Gay’, 61st of 99 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Golden Rule”, 11th of 14 Frost stories ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in Headfirst into Hell: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Front, Vol. 2 (Steeger, 2025), 13h of 17 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Touch of Nature”, Western mystery, last of 8 with Red Saunders who ‘fights a “wild man in kilts”’, last of 12 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop