gangster – SMB Noir

1934 – debut issue ~ cover art by Albert Yates

1934 ~ cover art by Albert Yates

‘publicity photo for the magazine’s launch in 1934‘

May 1951 issue

May 1951 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Millard H. Cannon, “For Customers Only”, short-short, only appearance in BM

~ Donald Barr Chidsey, “Dead Horses Don’t Count”, last of 6 appearances in BM

~ Richard Deming, “Pay Up or Die”, Manville “Manny” Moon, 1^st person narrator, last of 6 stories, author’s last appearance in BM

~ Charles Larson, “Eye for an Eye”, reprint, not from BM

~ Hank Napheys, “Homicide Furlough”, ‘reprint, not from BM’

~ Robert H. Rohde, “Millions of Cops”, ‘reprint, not from BM’

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder in the Ring”, ‘boxing, gamblers, racketeers, with Primo-Carnera-like boxer; reprinted from Dec ’30 issue

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

1930 issue ~ cover art by W. Romaine

1930 – first and only issue

cover art by W. Romaine

June 1924 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

June 1924 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Russell Arden Bankson, “Underground”, ‘The detective-sheriff of the Kaniksu country’, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Madeline Bartlett, “The Mutilated Masterpiece”, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Gilligan and Co”, ‘Introducing a new character’, 1^st of 5 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Red Peril”, 3^rd of 53 with Race Williams, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015) 11th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “A Fair Trial”, ‘pub. anonymously; authorship established in Hughes, Gardner, (1978), p. 312’, 1^st of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Girl with the Silver Eyes”, the Op [10^th of 25], referred to in BM as ‘Hammett’s San Francisco Detective’, sequel to “The House in Turk Street” (4/15/1924), issue also includes letter about the story, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), in The Girl with the Silver Eyes: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, vol.2 (Steeger, 2023),17th of 51 stories in BM

~ Frank Howard, Jr., “The Vernacular at the Night Court”, ‘No data’ [no explanation as to what that means], author’s only appearance in BM

~ Victor Shea, “Mr. Pentridge Comes Down to Breakfast”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Lively Corpse”, 30th of 49 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 31st of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “Monty’s Last Job”, last of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, last of 13 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[terrible cover but first I’ve seen since starting this project in 2013]

[cover updated 2/16/26]