Category: updated

April 1938 issue ~ cover art by James Lunnon

April 1938 issue

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

different of same issue

[updated 1/26/26]

2013 Penguin trade paperback

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.

cover art by Onzi Brown

April 1954 issue

[last cover updated 4/13/25]

July 1948 issue ~ cover art by Peter Stevens

July 1948 issue

cover art by Peter Stevens

better image than previously posted

~ Curtis Cluff, “Leave Killings to the Cops”, last of 3 with Honolulu PI Johnny Ford, 1st person-narrator, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ Norman A. Daniels, “License to Kill “, Stacy Tucker, PI, last of 4 stories in BM

~ Richard Deming, “A Shot in the Arm”, Manville “Manny” Moon, 1st-person narrator, 2nd of 6 stories in BM

~ Paul W. Fairman, “Big-Time Operator”, ‘young guy (1st-person narrator) getting into the rackets, reprinted, The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977)’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “Don’t Bet on Death”, ‘Cary Vaughn & Ned Orlow, private eyes’, 7th of 9 stories in BM

~ W. Lee Herrington, [also published in BM as Alan Farley], “Bury Me Last”, ‘Barney Moffatt, D.A.’s office’, 3rd of 4 stories under this name in BM

~ Victor K. Ray, “Eeeney-Meeny-Money –Murder!”, ‘Bill Baldwin, nightclub bookkeeper, 1st person-narrator’, author’s only appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[images updated 6/11/25, post updated 1/29/26, 2/28/26]

June 1935 issue ~ cover art by Rudolph Belarski

June 1935 issue

cover art by Rudolph Belarski

better image than previously posted

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Hide-Out”, ‘1st G-Man Chuck Thompson story of 7; CT, Special Agent, FBI, in LA’, 6th of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Makes a Difference”, 2nd of 2 Jimmy DeHaven stories, 14th of 43 stories in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “Nevada Gas”, Johnny DeRuse, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), first hardcover appearance The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin, 1950), then Pickup on Noon Street (Pocket, 1/52), various paperback editions 5th of 11 stories in BM

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Thirty Tickets to Win”, ‘Flashgun Casey at the race-track’, 11th of 27 Casey, 11th of 31 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Dead Men Can Talk”, last of 11 Dal Prentice capers, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, 16th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 11/9/25]

Killer in the Rain x 6

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1964. First UK Edition, preceding all others. The first collection of these stories.

“Killer in the Rain” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1935)

“The Man Who Liked Dogs” (Black Mask Magazine, Mar. 1936)

“The Curtain” (Black Mask Magazine, Sept. 1936)

“Try the Girl” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1937)

“Mandarin’s Jade” (Dime Detective Magazine, Nov. 1937)

“Bay City Blues” (Dime Detective Magazine, June 1938)

“The Lady in the Lake” (Dime Detective Magazine, Jan. 1939)

“No Crime in the Mountains”(Detective Story Magazine, Sept. 1941)

introduction by Philip Durham

1st Pocket edition, December 1965

June 1973 Bantam reissue

cover art by Tom Adams

2011 Penguin UK reissue

July 1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print

cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie

August 25, 2013

1979 Pan/Macmillan reissue – cover photo by Robert Golden

[post reworked 7/4/25, 3/1/26]

Pickup on Noon Street x 7

1952 Pocket reissue

cover art by Tom Dunn

better image than previously posted

1956 Pocket reissue

cover art by Robert Maguire

1960 Ace edition from the UK

1965 Pocket reissue (7th printing, October of ’65)

better image than previously posted

June 1973 Ballantine reissue*

cover art by Tom Adams

1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print*

cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie

1980 Ballantine reissue

cover art credited to Richard Waldrep

“Pickup On Noon Street” (Detective Fiction Weekly, May 1936, originally titled “Noon Street Nemesis”)

“Smart-Aleck Kill” (Black Mask Magazine, July 1934)

“Guns at Cyrano’s” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1936)

“Nevada Gas” (Black Mask Magazine, June 1936)

these stories were first gathered into a book in 1950, Houghton Mifflin’s The Simple Art of Murder

August 25, 2013

[*covers from owner’s own copies]

[updated 6/6/25]

Trouble is My Business x 3

June 1973 Ballantine reissue

cover art by Tom Adams

1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd printing

includes:

introduction by Raymond Chandler, originally from The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin, 1950)

“Trouble is My Business” (Dime Detective Magazine, Aug. 1939)

“Finger Man” (Black Mask Magazine, Oct. 1934)

“Goldfish” (Black Mask Magazine, June 1936)

“Red Wind” (Dime Detective Magazine, Jan. 1938)

cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie

August 25, 2013

[covers from owner’s own copies]

2016 Penguin UK reissue

[updated 3/3/26]

January 1948 issue ~ cover art by Paul Stevens

January 1948 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Peter Stevens

~ Curtis Cluff, “Snow at Waikiki”, 1st of 3 with Honolulu PI Johnny Ford, ‘1st-person narrator, ‘snow=heroin’, 1st of 4 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Bury Me Not”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works for Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, last of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, reprinted in Let the Dead Alone: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Luther McGavock (Steeger, 2020), last of 12 stories in BM

~ Norman A. Daniels, “Death is No Stranger”, Rick Trent, ex-PI, ex-con, 1st person narrator, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “Murder Tops the Cast”, 4th of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 4th of 10 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Keep the Killing Quiet”, ‘1st-person narrator’, last of 20 stories in BM

~ George F. Kull, “Red Christmas”, ‘in Reno‘, 1st of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 2/28/26]