April 1943 issue ~ cover art by Emery Clarke

April 1943 issue

cover art by Emery Clarke

Kenneth Robeson, “The King of Terror”

better image than previously posted

as violent, bloody, sexist, sadomasochistic, racist, and lurid as the pulp covers were, this one has to be perhaps the most grisly of all…

April 1933 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

April 1933 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Chinatown Murder”, 49th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘Chinese frequently spoken’, 70th of 99 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Farewell to Crime”, 21st of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Too Young to Die: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.3 (Altus, 2013), 46 of 67 stories in BM

~ Norvell Page, “Black Harvest”, ‘last of 3 Jules Tremaine stories; Manhattan and Little Italy; (ed. note) a projected & potentially important series that never developed’ [Hagemann doesn’t explain his editor’s note], only these 3 stories in BM. Reprinted in Black Harvest: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jules Tremaine (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ William Rollins, Jr., “K.O. and the Killers”, 3rd of 4 stories with ‘Kenneth Osborne from ‘No’th Cah’lina’; 1st person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Give the Man Rope”, 1st of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, debut and 1st of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “The Case-Hardened Samaritan”, 2nd of 11 with Dal Prentice, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, ‘Prentice – “hard when it comes to handling killers”, reprinted in The Case-Hardened Samaritan: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Dal Prentice, Vol. 1, 3rd of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

1958 Avon reissue – cover art by Robert Maguire

1958 Avon paperback original

republished in 1968 by Walker as A Whiff of Death, Asimov’s preferred title

1968 Walker hardcover reissue

1970 Sphere edition from the UK