black mask magazine

December 1930 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

December 1930 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Caleso Murders”, 1st story by RFW in this issue, 8^th of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Racketeers’ Reef”, last of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 20th of 39 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Mailed Fist”, 8th of 14 Frost stories ’Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger & Stepsons have a go at ‘The Big Shot’, 9^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Red-Hots”, 2nd of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 27 of 67 stories in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “Honor of the Show”, ‘deformed sideshow owner, Price Eco, and murder’, 3rd of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Bertrand W(illiam) Sinclair, “Rope’s End”, ‘Western; Bill Stokes’, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder in the Ring”, ‘boxing, gamblers, racketeers, with Primo-Carnera-like boxer’; reprinted in May ’51 issue, 2^nd story in this issue, 44th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1921 issue ~ cover art by William Grotz

April 1921 issue

cover art by William Grotz

~ John Baer, “Partners in Crime”, 4^th of 24 stories in BM

~ Hamilton Craigie, “The Lap of the Lady”, shop lifting and female impersonation, last of 7 solo stories in BM

~ Eric A. Darling, “The Pigtail of Wi-Wing-Ho”, ‘Chinese; diamond hidden in pigtail’, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Walter Deffenbaugh, “The Second Safe”, ‘safe-cracker, narrator’, 2^nd of 14 stories in BM

~ Ford Douglas, “The Mardi Gras Souvenir”, ‘”Complete Mystery Novelette”, 1^st-person narrator’, 1^st of 4 stories in BM

~ Gaius Drew, “Murder Magic”, ‘Benson the Houseman’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Clinton [aka Charles] Harcourt, “The Hold-Up on Napoleon Boulevard”, ‘Barney Fagan, thief’, 5th of 6 stories in BM

~ Marc Edmond Jones, “Death’s Bridegroom”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “What the Moonlight Revealed”, 8th of 29 stories in BM

~ Hubert de Tavanne Roussel, “The Stained Paper”, ‘short-short’, and “The Yellow Stripe”, ‘set in the Kalahari Desert (South Africa)’, 2^nd and 3rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Ward Sterling, “The Riddle of the Tattooed Men”, 1st of 2 stories in this issue (see Ward), 7th of 16 stories under this name in BM

~ John D. Swain, “Mahogany Brogues”, ‘cocaine addict kills bully on NYC subway’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Harold Ward, “Under the Crimson Skull”, ‘two detectives & Cora Morgan, “government operative’, 2^nd story in this issue, 13th of 29 stories under this name in BM [19^th and 20th of 46 stories in BM under three different names – Ward Sterling and H.W. Starr]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

May 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

May 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The System”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 4th of 7, subtitled ‘The Receiver’, 23rd of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Law of Silence”, ‘pt. 2 Crime story (subtitled “The Show-Down”) with Charlie, 1^st -person narrator’

~ Carroll John Daly, “Wrong Street”, 2^nd story in the issue, last Satan Hall story in BM, 33^rd and 34^th appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Out of the Shadows”, 22nd of 73 with Ed Jenkins, in Chinatown with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy and Helen Chadwick, 32nd of 99 stories in BM

~ W.H.B. Kent, “The Killer Finds a Horseshoe”, 3rd of 6 Westerns with Killer Blake, deputy sheriff & agent of the Stock Association

~ Henry Leverage, “The Gopher”, “Tony Fishera, alias ‘The Crawler, aka ‘The Gopher’ – gangster”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Marion Scott, “Fools Rush In”, ‘Steve Burke, tenderfoot lumberjack, 1^st-person narrator’, 2nd of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple

~ Everett H. Tipton, “Hunted”, ‘Western’, 5^th of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Black Murder”, ‘Verner, Federal man, & greyhound racing; Black Murder = dog’, 20th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

~ Clee Woods, “Hoofprints of Law”, ‘Western; subtitled, “A Neck in a Noose”’, author’s sole appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1942 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

October 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Francis K. Allan, “That Second Answer”, ‘Shamus Tim Hall of Hall & Branch, NYC; info on FKA, p.8’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM, but only original appearance

~ D.L. Champion, “Murder By the Ears”, 10^th of 26 with Rex Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 11^th of 30 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Blood on the Book”, 11th of 16 with Colonel Walter (Doc) Rennie, USA Medical Corps, 11^th of 20 stories in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Detour to Death”, last of 14 appearances in BM

~ Curt Siodmak, “Donovan’s Brain”, 2nd of 3 parts, serialization of the novel published in 1943, only 3 appearances in BM by the author and director

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1941 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

June 1941 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ D.L. Champion, “Split Fee”, 4^th of 26 with Sackler, 5^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Hot Towels”, 5th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 7^th of 32 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Death Do Us Part”, 4th of 16 with Colonel Walter (Doc) Rennie, USA Medical Corps psychiatrist, 4th of 20 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “The Cat with a Headache”, 5th of 10 with PI Cellini Smith, reprinted in Dead and Done For: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith (Steeger, 2020), 6th of 12 appearances in BM

~ Stewart Sterling, “Over My Dead Body”, 4th of 9 stories with ‘Special Squad (Bomb & Forgery); see p.8 for note by SS on story’, 7^th of 12 stories under this name in BM [Sterling and Stirling were pen names of Nathaniel Prentice Winchell, 20 total stories in BM]

~ Roger Torrey, “Snakes in the Grass”, ‘3rd of Bryant (4 stories), a regular U.S. Army man, who works in a CCC camp; 1^st-person narrator’, ‘- in a Southern CCC camp’, 49th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1941 Canadian issue

reprint of June 1941 US issue

June 1920 issue ~ cover art by William Grotz

June 1920 issue – third issue

cover art by William Grotz

~ Hamilton Craigie, “The Dead Ringer”, 2nd of 7 solo stories in BM

~ Eric A. Darling, “That Thing on the Bed”, 1^st of 5 stories in BM

~ Schuyler Hamilton, “Run to Earth”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Clinton [aka Charles] Harcourt, “The Chest of Delicious Curves”, 2nd of 6 stories in BM

~ Harry C. Hervey, Jr., “The Black Menace”, 2nd of 8 appearances in BM

~ William H. Kofoed, “The Scarlet Mask”, 1st of 3 stories in BM [under this name?]

~ Maurice Level, “The Confession”, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

~ H.T. MacKender, “The Coward”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Final Raid”, 2nd of 29 stories in BM

~ Charles F. Oursler and John I. Pearce, “The Hand of Judas”, authors’ only appearance in BM

~ Edward E. and Dorothy S. Rose, “The Night of November 7^th”, authors’ only appearance in BM

~ Valentine Williams, “The Mystery of the Brown Leather Suit-Case”, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

March 1948 issue ~ cover art by Peter Stevens

March 1948 issue

cover art by Peter Stevens

better image than previously posted

December 1929 issue x 2

December 1929 issue #1

December 1929 issue #2

both better images than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Triple Treachery”, 30th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, in LA, 2nd half of story with Ramsey, from previous issue, 47th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 4 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 38^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Renegades of the Rio”, 3^rd of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “Saving the Double-Cross”, 4th of 5 stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Craleigh Comes to Life”, 2nd of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 10th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ L.R. Sherman, “Reading Sign on the Sagebrush Kid”, Western, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Outside”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 1 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, pub. in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 35th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

April 1933 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

April 1933 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Chinatown Murder”, 49th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘Chinese frequently spoken’, 70th of 99 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Farewell to Crime”, 21st of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Too Young to Die: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.3 (Altus, 2013), 46 of 67 stories in BM

~ Norvell Page, “Black Harvest”, ‘last of 3 Jules Tremaine stories; Manhattan and Little Italy; (ed. note) a projected & potentially important series that never developed’ [Hagemann doesn’t explain his editor’s note], only these 3 stories in BM. Reprinted in Black Harvest: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jules Tremaine (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ William Rollins, Jr., “K.O. and the Killers”, 3rd of 4 stories with ‘Kenneth Osborne from ‘No’th Cah’lina’; 1^st person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Give the Man Rope”, 1st of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, debut and 1^st of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “The Case-Hardened Samaritan”, 2nd of 11 with Dal Prentice, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, ‘Prentice – “hard when it comes to handling killers”, reprinted in The Case-Hardened Samaritan: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Dal Prentice, Vol. 1, 3rd of 50 appearances in BM

July 1947 issue ~ cover art by Malvin Singer

July 1947 issue

cover art by Malvin Singer

~ D.L. Champion, “Padlocked Pockets”, 23^rd if 26 with Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 25th of 30 stories in BM

~ Ed Edstrom, “Never Call the Cops”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Bruno Fischer, “A Killer in the Crowd”, ‘1^st-person; homicide lieutenant, NYPD’, 2^nd of 5 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “The Constant Shadow”, 4th of 9 stories in BM

~ Henry Norton, “High Voltage Homicide”, ‘Lee Bassler, ‘phone company trouble-shooter’, last of 6 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Murder’s No Libel”, last of 14 with Ken O’Hara, ‘now press agent for Hotel Diplomat’, 24th of 27 stories in BM

~ Michael Sutton, “Concerto for Guns”, ‘Johnny Dillon, LA private ‘tec, 1^st person narrator‘, 2nd of 2 stories in BM