cover art by Rafael DeSoto
better image than previously posted
Robert Martin, “Death Gives a Permanent Wave” (PI Jim Bennett)
D.L. Champion, “Slaying Room Only!”
John D. MacDonald, “Oh, Give Me a Hearse”
Charles Larson, “Covet and Kill”
Richard E. Glendinning, “Invitation to Hell”
Paula Elliot, “Murder is Too Personal“
Frank Ward, “Nightmare Alley”
October 1927 issue
cover art by Fred Craft
~ William Donald Bray, “The Trap”, ‘Western; Deputy Lee Tyndall’, 3rd of 7 stories in BM
~ Tom Curry, “Murder Chains”, part 2 of 2, ‘gangster yarn; John Furnel, alias The Grand Street Kid’, 17th of 39 stories in BM
~ Francis James, “The Steele Avenger”, ‘Timothy O’Toole, bodyguard to Peter Holt’, only appearance of this character in BM, last of 20 appearances in BM
~ W.H.B. Kent, “The Killer”, 1st of 6 Westerns with Killer Blake, deputy sheriff & agent of the Stock Association
~ Murray Leinster (pseud. of Will F. Jenkins), “The Ending of El Jefe”, ‘Western bandits’; last of 7 appearances in BM’
~ Marion Scott, “Folded Evidence”, ‘Brent, detective from HQ, NYPD’, 1st of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple
~ J. Paul Suter, “The Man on the Bus”, 14th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 18th of 19 appearances in BM
~ Merle Thomas, “The Lettered Telegraph”, ‘RR holdup & telegraph operator’s daring’, sole appearance in BM
~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Rebellious Egg”, ‘Crookedness & RR-building’, 6th of 9 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Sixty Minutes”, ‘Buck, who flies a Jenny, 1st person narrator, & Sam Ellis’, 15th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
better image than previously posted
cover art by Fred Craft
~ W.T. Ballard, “Snatching Is Dynamite”, ‘Lennox & ‘The Secret Five’ of Hollywood’, 9th of 27 BM stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 9th of 43 stories in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Finger Man”, “Finger Man”, unnamed LA PI, first person narrator, first book appearance in the collection The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin hardcover, 1950), first paperback, Trouble is My Business (Pocket, 10/51), various paperback editions, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 3rd of 11 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Immunity Murders”, 21th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, with his wife Vivian, 28th of 39 stories in BM
~ Horace McCoy, “Somebody Must Die”, last of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger, last of 17 appearances in BM
~ Thomas Walsh, “Best Man”, ‘Carver, plain-clothesman, Homicide; reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, 4th of 6 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[updated 1/25/26]
better image than previously posted
cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer
~ Guthrie Brown,“Touchstone”, Western, 2nd of 2 BM stories
~ Paul Cain, “Parlor Trick”, ‘criminal narrator’, later released as one of the Seven Slayers (1950 Avon), reprinted in The Arbor House Treasury of Detective & Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983), reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), 5th of 17 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 46th of 53 with Race Williams, part 4 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, 58th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Climbing Death”, aviation plays a roll, 21st of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “New Boss”, 18th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 25th of 39 stories in BM, reprinted Sept ’50 with different title, “Patsy in Slaughterland”]
~ J.J. Des Ormeaux, “The Devil Suit”, 2nd and last ‘Jack McGuire, Federal dick, 1st-person narrator, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, 4th of 5 stories in BM (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Rough Stuff”, 45th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, 62nd of 99 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[image updated 10/27/25]
cover art by George J. Rozen
better image than previously posted
David Dresser was the real name of “Brett Halliday”
SMB Noir 