December 1945 issue ~ cover art by Milton Luros

December 1945 issue

cover art by Milton Luros

better image than previously posted

Frederick C. Davis, “Death Can Wait” (Bill Brent)

Dale Clark, “Stay Close to Me”

Merle Constiner, “The Kitchen of Master Lefevre” (The Dean)

Julius Long, “Mostly for Murder” (C.D. Mort)

Robert C. Dennis, “Rear View of Hell”

October 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

October 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~ Tom Curry, “Supercrook”, 14th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 28th of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Last Shot”, 27th of 53,‘Race Williams vs. The Hidden Hand; last of 5 loosely organized 5-pt. serial’, reprinted in The Snarl of the Beast: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.2 (Altus, 2016), 39th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Black Sheep’s Return”, ‘Flash Powell; Western’, 12th of 39 stories in BM

~ John W. McCardell, “Warren of Granite Canyon”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Dog Eat Dog”, 2nd of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, ‘2nd of the ‘Crimes of Richmond City’ sub-series, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), reprinted in Raw Law: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 14 of 67 stories in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “A Song in the Night”, ‘Border tale; Juárez’, 1st of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Ghost Guns”, ‘Mac, Ben Greed; 5th of 6 in Border Brand series’, reprinted in Border Brand (Steeger, 2024), 25th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/22/26]

April 1929 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

 April 1929 issue

cover art by H. C. Murphy

better image than previously posted

~ Tom Curry, “The Star”, 17th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 31st of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “A Pretty Bit of Shooting”, 29th of 53 with Race Williams, ‘The Flame’ aka Florence Drummond, ‘The Girl with the Criminal Mind’, 2nd of a loosely organized 4-pt. serial; pub. as The Tag Murders (1930)’, reprinted in The Snarl of the Beast: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.2 (Altus, 2016), 41st of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “No Questions Asked”, 27th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, with Helen Chadwick, 40th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Crooks Assorted”, 9th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 13th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Law without Law”, 4th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, 4th of the ‘Crimes of Richmond City’ sub-series, reprinted in Raw Law: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 16 of 67 stories in BM

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Six-Gun Showdown”, ‘Western novelette’, last of 9 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Pay-Off”, Gary Greer, 3rd (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 29th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]. Reprinted in Laughing Death (Steeger Books, 2021).

June 1925 issue ~ cover art by A.T. Stewart

June 1925 issue

cover art by A.T. Stewart

~ Charles G. Booth, “One Shot”, ‘An Impossible Crime’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 4th of 7 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Say It with Lead”, 8th 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), 16th of 71 appearances in BM

~ J.S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher, “The Skene-Dhu of Inverikie”, ‘A Family Mystery’, last of 6 appearances in BM

~ S.S. Gannett, “Invisible Fingers”, author’s sole story in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “No So Darned Bad”, 3rd of 73 Ed Jenkins, ‘the Phantom Crook again’, 7th of 99 stories in BM

~ Richard Frank Hagar, “In Sea Bats’ Craws”, ‘Mystery of the Sea’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Finger-Prints”, letter to ed, relating to article by Beffel in previous issue [not counted as a ‘story’]

~ Arthur Kearns, “That Grahame Gem Robbery”, ‘touted as ‘A Compressed Novelette’‘, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “Swift Work”, 41st of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 42nd of 49 total articles in BM

~ L. King Tichenor, “The Law Steps In”, ‘a confidence yarn’, 2nd of 5 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop