
better image than previously posted

1949 Hillman reissue – first paperback edition

better image than previously posted

1991 Black Lizard paperback reissue
cover art by Kirwan


[post updated 6/13/25]

better image than previously posted

1949 Hillman reissue – first paperback edition

better image than previously posted

1991 Black Lizard paperback reissue
cover art by Kirwan


[post updated 6/13/25]

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

1990 Warner edition
cover art by Gary Kelley
[updated 9/6/25 ~ all copies mine]

cover art by A. Rose
~Eustace Hale Ball & Earl Derby, “Dead Men Do Tell!”, ‘The First of the Black Mask Daytime Stories – not to be read at night by people with weak nerves.” EHB’s debut in BM
~ Carl Clausen, “The Careful Alibi”, ‘Complete Novelette’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM
~ Frederick Ames Coates, “Bottled Judgment”, last of 5 stories in BM
~ Peter Condet, “The Indorsed Check”, ‘baseball background’, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Thomas Ewing Dabney, “Tom Shepherd and the Rat”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Marie Eisenbrandt, “The Breaking Point”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ John Hanlon, “A Shred of Yellow Paper, ‘short-short, less than a half page‘, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ Roy L. McCardell, “A Million A Year”, 1st of 4 parts, 1st of 5 appearances in BM
~ J.R. McCarthy, “Payment As Promised”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ John McColl, “But She Looked Lovely”, ‘poem’, 1st of 3 works in BM
~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Goat”, 13th of 29 stories in BM
~ Herman Petersen, “Shark-Bait”, ‘short-short‘, 5th of 20 stories in BM
~ A. Rose, “A Substitute for Blood”, ‘story illus. by author who also designed cover of issue’, author’s sole story in BM
~ Joe Taylor, “The Life of a Hold-Up Man”, ‘1st (of 12) tales in ‘My Underworld’ series; JT is advertised as ‘ex-automobile bandit’ with 15 years’ experience in crime; early on, listed as fact; later, as fiction; see p. 40 for photo-portrait of JT’, 1st of 13th appearances in BM
~ Sally Dixon Wright, “The House on the Dunes”, author’s only appearance in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 11/8/25]
@font-face
{font-family:”Cambria Math”;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}

cover art by James Lunnon
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Murder in the Family”, 2nd of 7, ‘Beeker in the San Joaquin Valley’, 16th of 21 stories in BM
~ Hal Murray Bonnett, “Dynamite Deal”, author’s only appearance in BM [who signed the cover]
~ Gregor Endell, “Murder Suspected”, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Muscle Out”, 65th of 73 Ed Jenkins with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy, 92nd of 100 appearances stories in BM
~ Frank Gruber, “No Motive”, 6th of 14 stories in BM
~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “No More Limericks”, ‘21st (of 25) Jerry Tracy capers, columnist on the (NYC) Planet, ‘mixer with poor and rich, the crooked and the straight, trailer of trouble and happiness’, reprinted in Station K-I-L-L: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.3 (Steeger, 2024), 22nd of 26 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 1/26/26]

edited by Sarah Weinman, an historical survey of the “Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense”.
authors include Shirley Jackson, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Elizabeth Sanxay Holding, Helen Neilsen, Patricia Highsmith, Margaret Millar and Vera Caspary.


[last cover updated 4/13/25]