aviation fiction – SMB Noir

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’, 4^th 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), 4^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 45^th 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’, 1^st 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), 13^h 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

Spring 1947 issue

Spring 1947

June 1926 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

June 1926 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~Tom Curry, “The House of Jewels”, 8^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Forget ‘Em All”, 9th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 16^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Cecil F. Hilleary, “The Lost Bullet”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick Jackson, “Risky Whiskey”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Black Burton Sits In”, 2nd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 2nd of 39 stories in BM

~ Colin Martins, “Ho-o-o-o for Tango!”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Ralph E. Renaud, “Telling the Cock-eyed World”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Henry S. Whitehead, “Gahd Laff”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Jenny Meets the Boys”, ‘border air-story’, 3rd of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

January 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Louis Victor Eytinge, “When Fingerprints Lied”, ‘Paul Prentiss, former pete-man (safe blower)’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Westmoreland Gray, “Guns of Silence”, ‘Vic Cammack, reporter, & Jerry the Yegg, crook, vs. bandits’, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Dynamite”, 3rd of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (Knopf hc, 1929), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 34th of 51 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Faith o’ MacGown”, 1^st of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 11^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Carl L. Martin, “Pore Pickin’s”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, ‘bank robbery & Mississippi River flood, dialect used’, 2nd of 6 in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Penalty of the Code”, ‘the code of silence’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 10 of 67 stories in BM

~ William S. Newell, “A Man Reforms”, ‘Louse’ Eller, a punk criminal, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Stephen Payne, “The Fifth Loop”, ‘Western‘, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ L.R. Sherman, “The Man Who Would Not Quit”, ‘Far North’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Sky’s the Limit”, last of 7 Chuck Reddington story; ‘airplanes & machineguns’, 17th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1930 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

December 1930 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Caleso Murders”, 1st story by RFW in this issue, 8^th of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Racketeers’ Reef”, last of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 20th of 39 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Mailed Fist”, 8th of 14 Frost stories ’Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger & Stepsons have a go at ‘The Big Shot’, 9^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Red-Hots”, 2nd of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 27 of 67 stories in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “Honor of the Show”, ‘deformed sideshow owner, Price Eco, and murder’, 3rd of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Bertrand W(illiam) Sinclair, “Rope’s End”, ‘Western; Bill Stokes’, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder in the Ring”, ‘boxing, gamblers, racketeers, with Primo-Carnera-like boxer’; reprinted in May ’51 issue, 2^nd story in this issue, 44th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1952 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

December 1952 issue

cover art by Norman Saunders – oil on board, 20.5 x 14.75 in.

better image than previously posted

Craig Rice & Mark Hope, “Case of the Vanishing Blonde” (Ed Bradbury)

Tiah Devitt, “The Merry Wives of Murder” (reprint from 1942)

Larry Holden, “Lady-Killer”

Richard Goggin, “For Old Crime’s Sake”

V.E. Thiessen, “Lady in Hades”

John Bender, “Tying Room Only”

Andrew Holt, “Death on a Platter”

Rufus Bakalor, “Love, Honor and Slay”

December 1929 issue x 2

December 1929 issue #1

December 1929 issue #2

both better images than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Triple Treachery”, 30th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, in LA, 2nd half of story with Ramsey, from previous issue, 47th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 4 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 38^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Renegades of the Rio”, 3^rd of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “Saving the Double-Cross”, 4th of 5 stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Craleigh Comes to Life”, 2nd of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 10th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ L.R. Sherman, “Reading Sign on the Sagebrush Kid”, Western, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Outside”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 1 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, pub. in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 35th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

Temple Field aka Raoul Whitfield

Field, Temple (pseudonym of Raoul Whitfield). FIVE. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Incorporated Publishers, [1931]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-270 [271-274: blank], publisher’s light orange cloth stamped in brown, top edge stained light, other edges untrimmed. First edition. First of the two novels by Whitfield published in book form under the pseudonym “Temple Field.” First published in BLACK MASK in nine parts as “The Laughing Death,” as by Raoul Whitfield, it was largely rewritten for book publication. The story’s protagonist, a World War I flying ace (Whitfield did fly in WWI but not in combat) whose father, a prosecuting attorney, has been murdered, wreaks vengeance upon the five men involved. Hubin, p. 282. Slight spine roll, mild spine fade, a very good copy in good dust jacket priced $2.00 on the front flap with wear and fraying with shallow loss along the top and bottom edges, mainly spine ends, orange ink on spine panel faded away, soiling to rear panel and water stains with light show through on outer surface. Presents better than it appears from the written description. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down.

Black Mask issues containing the “Laughing Death” series

February 1929: “On the Spot”

March 1929: “Out of the Sky”

April 1929: “The Six-Gun Showdown”

May 1929: “High Odds”

June 1929: “Within the Circle”

July 1929: “The Carnival Kill”

August 1929: “River Street Death”

September 1929: “The Squeeze”

October 1929: “Sal the Dude”