Category: western fiction

June 1932 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

June 1932 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Thomson Burtis, “They Don’t Shake Hands in Arkansas”, ‘Slats Kirke in Detroit’, 4th of 6 appearances in BM

~ Paul Cain, “Velvet”, ‘Kells & Granquist; part 3 of Fast One’, reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), Black Mask: The Complete Stories (2013 Mysterious Press), Lead Party: The Complete Fiction Works of Paul Cain (Steeger, 2024), 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 45th of 53 with Race Williams, part 3 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, reprinted in If Death is Respectable: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.4 (Altus, 2018), 57th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Reform Racket”, ‘Dan Stiles; one-time gunman’, 1st of 13 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Cooking Crooks”, 44th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘with Norma Gay’, 61st of 99 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Golden Rule”, 11th of 14 Frost stories ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in Headfirst into Hell: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Front, Vol. 2 (Steeger, 2025), 13h of 17 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Touch of Nature”, Western mystery, last of 8 with Red Saunders who ‘fights a “wild man in kilts”’, last of 12 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1926 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

June 1926 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~Tom Curry, “The House of Jewels”, 8th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Forget ‘Em All”, 9th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 16th of 99 stories in BM

~ Cecil F. Hilleary, “The Lost Bullet”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick Jackson, “Risky Whiskey”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Black Burton Sits In”, 2nd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 2nd of 39 stories in BM

~ Colin Martins, “Ho-o-o-o for Tango!”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Ralph E. Renaud, “Telling the Cock-eyed World”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Henry S. Whitehead, “Gahd Laff”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Jenny Meets the Boys”, ‘border air-story’, 3rd of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

January 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Louis Victor Eytinge, “When Fingerprints Lied”, ‘Paul Prentiss, former pete-man (safe blower)’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Westmoreland Gray, “Guns of Silence”, ‘Vic Cammack, reporter, & Jerry the Yegg, crook, vs. bandits’, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Dynamite”, 3rd of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (Knopf hc, 1929), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 34th of 51 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Faith o’ MacGown”, 1st of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 11th of 39 stories in BM

~ Carl L. Martin, “Pore Pickin’s”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, ‘bank robbery & Mississippi River flood, dialect used’, 2nd of 6 in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Penalty of the Code”, ‘the code of silence’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 10 of 67 stories in BM

~ William S. Newell, “A Man Reforms”, ‘Louse’ Eller, a punk criminal, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Stephen Payne, “The Fifth Loop”, ‘Western‘, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ L.R. Sherman, “The Man Who Would Not Quit”, ‘Far North’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Sky’s the Limit”, last of 7 Chuck Reddington story; ‘airplanes & machineguns’, 17th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1, 1924 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

April 1, 1924 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

better image than previously posted

~ Charles G. Booth, “The Malevolent Bequest”, 3rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Marjory Stoneman Douglas, “White Midnight”, 3rd of 4 parts, ‘South Seas setting’, author’s only story in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “One Hour”, the Op [8th of 25], reprinted in The Return of the Continental Op (Dell mapback, 1947), reprinted in Nightmare Town (Knopf, 1999), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), reprinted in Zigzags of Treachery: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, Vol. 1 (Steeger, 2023), 14th of 45 stories in BM

~ Harold Freeman Miners, “Twisted Trails”, ‘Western’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ Frederick Moore, “Jerauld of Beranda Island”, “called ‘A detective story of the sea’”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “The Ring of the Hand of the Dead”, see “Footsteps of the Dead” (May 1934), for sequel, 6th of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “Numbers and Threads”, ‘Detective James McCoy, NYPD’, 27th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 28th of 49 total articles in BM

~ Merlin Moore Taylor, “Ivywild”, part 2 of 2, ‘family secret in ancient English castle’, 7th of 8 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 1929 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

August 1929 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Peter Ames Cressey, “Do Your Stuff, Ranger”, ‘Western with Carnes’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Spawn of the Night”, 8th of 10 Bob Larkin stories, listed incorrectly in the Table of Contents as ‘Hanging Friday’, 43rd of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Fly Paper”, ‘the Op [23rd of 25] & arsenical fly paper, reprinted The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 40th of 51 stories of BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “The Other Cameo”, 3rd of 6 stories with ‘Cameo Kirby, reformed jewel thief’, 8th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Victor Shaw, “Birds of Prey”, ‘getaway from a road gang’, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “River Street Death”, Gary Greer, 7th (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’, 33rd of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]. Reprinted in Laughing Death (Steeger Books, 2021).

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop