Category: updated

August 1938 issue ~ cover art by Don Creigh

August 1938 issue

cover art by Don Creigh

better image than previously posted

~ William E. Brandon, “Handout”, ‘panhandler in trouble’, 1st of 7 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Seven Knocks at My Door”, ‘Dr. Joel Perry’, 4th of 16 stories in BM

~ Frank Gruber, “The Ring and the Finger”, ‘1st-person narrator’, 8th of 14 stories in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Deed of Gift”, 2nd of 2 stories with ‘Barron Hargraft & boxing in Detroit & NYC’, 4th of 14 stories in BM

~ William Tanquery, “At Stillson’s”, ‘newspaper reporter; Stillson’s – a bar’, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Death Plays Tag”, ‘8th (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 35th of 50 appearances in BM

~ Donald Wandrei, “Make Me a Death Mask”, ‘young artist’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 10/27/25]

Blonde on the Rocks x 4 + 1

1963 Horwitz first printing

1964 Horwitz International reissue

cover art by Robert McGinnis

Gouache on board, 22 x 15 inches (55.9 x 38.1 cm)
Signed lower center right: R. M.Ginnis

1963 Signet first printing

1971 Signet reissue, third printing

cover art by Robert McGinnis

[updated 11/5/25]

October 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

October 1936 issue

cover art by John Drew

better image than previously posted

~ Russell Bender, “Heat Target”, ‘mayor of a small Maryland town’, 1st of 3 stories in BM

~ John K. Butler, “No Rest for Soldiers”, ‘WWI vets, bonuses & Russ McGregor’, 5th of 11 stories in BM

~ Lester Dent, “Sail”, 1st Oscar Sale story, set in Miami, 1st of 2 stories in BM, reprinted The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), earlier version of this story reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010) as “Luck”. “Sail” and “Luck” reprinted in Luck: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Oscar Sail (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ Roger Torrey, “Jail Bait”, ‘1st (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 21st of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Nothing More Than Murder x 6

1949 Harper & Bros. hardcover

better image than previously posted

1949 Hillman reissue – first paperback edition

1953 Dell paperback reissue

better image than previously posted

1991 Black Lizard paperback reissue

cover art by Kirwan

1991 Black Lizard reissue

2014 Mulholland reissue

[post updated 6/13/25]

The Moving Target x 3

March 1950 Pocket paperback, first printing

cover painting by Harvey Kidder

first in the long-running and deservedly respected Lew Archer series by Kenneth Millar, aka Ross Macdonald. After using his father’s name as the pen name for this novel, he was forced by John D. MacDonald to alter it for future novels, and Ross Macdonald was born.

1959, third printing

cover art by Jerry Allison

September 18, 2013

1990 Warner edition

cover art by Gary Kelley

[updated 9/6/25 ~ all copies mine]