Category: finest kind

May 1931 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

May 1931 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ William Donald Bray, “The Man Who Cased Himself”, ‘a suspected killer joins in the hunt to catch himself’, 7th of 12 stories in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Red Dawn”, 4th of 6 parts in the ‘Rainbow Diamonds’ sequence that take Jo Gar from Manila to San Francisco, 13th of 24 Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Grimes Hill (pseud. of Frederick Lewis Nebel), “The Spot and the Lady”, ‘short-short‘, 2nd of 2 stories in this issue by the author, last of 2 stories under this name in BM, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014),

~ Horace McCoy, “Headfirst into Hell”, 9th of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger & Eddie Giles in Mexico (“Mañana land”)’, 10th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Beat the Rap”, 14th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Shakedown: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 31 of 67 stories under Nebel in BM [2nd story in this issue, see Grimes Hill]

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Derelict”, last of 4-part serialization of his 1930 novel, ‘murder, romance and disaster on a deserted ocean liner’, 5th of 9 fiction pieces in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Soft City”, ‘Center City yarn’, 1st of 2 stories in this issue by RFW, 47th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

cover art by Rafael de Soto

November 1944 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Merle Constiner, “Killer Stay ‘Way from My Door”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 7th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, 7th of 12 stories in BM

~ Brett Halliday (pseud. of David Dresser), “A Taste for Cognac”, 1st of 2 Mike Shayne stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Blind Bogey”, 2nd of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 7th of 23 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Murder A.W.O.L.”, 8th Cellini Smith, ‘on his induction day, WWII’, 10th of 12 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

September 1946 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “The Sound of the Shot”, 26th of 28 stories with O’Hanna, ‘with movie people & Hollywood beauty contest’, 30th of 32 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “Hot-House Homicide”, ‘debut of Mortimer Jones (Jonesy), private cop, narrator, drives a Duesenberg’, 1st of 9 stories in BM

~ C.M. (Cyril) Kornbluth, “Beer-Bottle Polka”, ‘Tim Skeat, private cop, 1st person narrator, in NYC’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 1st of 2 stories in BM, both with Skeat

~ Julius Long, “This Is Murder”, 14th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 19th of 23 stories in BM

~ William Rough, “Don’t Burn Your Corpses Behind You”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; 4th of 5 capers’ in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop