1978 Random House first edition hardcover, a modern classic
cover illustration by Stan Zagorowoski
1st novel with private eye C.W. Sughrue with begins with the masterful and oft-quoted sentence: “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.”
1943 mugshot of Elizabeth Short, destined to be known throughout history as The Black Dahlia
Her remains found on January 15, 1947
39th St and Norton. The body dump site of the Black Dahlia
September 1987 Mysterious Press hardcover
cover art by Stephen Peringer
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Charles H. Alson
credited as being the first mystery published by a black American writer as well as the first mystery to have only black characters and feature the first black detective.
published in 1932 during the great Harlem Renaissance, Fisher was a man of many talents: physician, radiologist, orator, musician and writer. He died far too young, in 1934, after unsuccessful surgery.
1969 Houghton & Stoughton UK edition
cover illustration by Craig Dodd
second of his Alan Grofield novels, offshoots from the Parker series
1959 Crest paperback reissue
cover art by Robert McGinnis
better image than previously posted
1958 Mystery House hardcover, 1st ed.
[post updated 4/24/25]
1958 Morrow hardcover, first edition of the 55th Perry Mason novel
June 1960 Pocket paperback reissue, first printing
cover art by Charles Binger?
better image than previously posted
June 1964 Pocket reissue, 6th printing
cover art by Robert McGinnis
better image than previously posted
SMB Noir 