black mask magazine – Page 11

September 1944 Canadian issue

September 1944 Canadian issue

November 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

November 1946 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ D.L. Champion, “Infernal Revenue”, 21^st of 26 with Sackler, 23^rd of 30 stories in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “I Thee Kill”, 1^st of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 1^st of 10 stories in BM

~ Jack Karney, “Shake Well and Kill”, ‘Garfield Dolan, red-headed private cop in NYC, 1^st person narrator’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Paul Komisaruk, “Shot from in Close”, ’Harry Nyland, Consolidated Detective Agency narrates’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ C.M. (Cyril) Kornbluth, “The Brooklyn Eye”, ‘Tim Skeat, private cop, 1^st person narrator, in NYC’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM, both with Skeat

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1942 UK issue

April 1942 UK issue

contents from the April 1942 US issue

better image than previously posted

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, 1^st person-narrator, 3^rd 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, 1^st-person narrator, 2^nd of 6 stories in BM

~ Paul W. Fairman, “Big-Time Operator”, ‘young guy (1^st-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’, 7^th 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, 1^st 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”, ‘1^st G-Man Chuck Thompson story of 7; CT, Special Agent, FBI, in LA’, 6^th of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Makes a Difference”, 2^nd of 2 Jimmy DeHaven stories, 14^th 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 5^th of 11 stories in BM

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

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”, 1^st of 3 with Honolulu PI Johnny Ford, ‘1^st-person narrator, ‘snow=heroin’, 1^st 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, 1^st 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”, ‘1^st-person narrator’, last of 20 stories in BM

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

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 2/28/26]

June 1951 issue

January 1951 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Robert Arthur, “The Coroner’s Hand”, ‘reprint, not originally BM’, 2^nd of 2 appearances in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “I Thee Kill”, 9^th of 10 stories in BM

~ Dean Evans, “Scandal-Time Gal”, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Green Widow”, ’Sgt. Brinkhaus, reprint from “Detective Fiction Weekly”, 11 Feb 1933’, last of 67 (66 originals) stories in BM

~ Richard Sale, “Banshee”, ‘reprint; not from BM’

~ Robert Turner, “For the Rest of Your Death”, last of 4 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “He Looked Like Murder”, ‘reprint; not from BM; orig. pub., Detective Fiction Weekly, 8 Feb 1941’, last of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 1951 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

August 1951

cover art by Norman Saunders

better image than previously posted

cover art repurposed for January 1951 British edition of Black Mask Magazine

October 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

October 1927 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ William Donald Bray, “The Trap”, ‘Western; Deputy Lee Tyndall’, 3^rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “Murder Chains”, part 2 of 2, ‘gangster yarn; John Furnel, alias The Grand Street Kid’, 17^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Francis James, “The Steele Avenger”, ‘Timothy O’Toole, bodyguard to Peter Holt’, only appearance of this character in BM, last of 20 appearances in BM

~ W.H.B. Kent, “The Killer”, 1^st of 6 Westerns with Killer Blake, deputy sheriff & agent of the Stock Association

~ Murray Leinster (pseud. of Will F. Jenkins), “The Ending of El Jefe”, ‘Western bandits’; last of 7 appearances in BM’

~ Marion Scott, “Folded Evidence”, ‘Brent, detective from HQ, NYPD’, 1st of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Man on the Bus”, 14th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 18th of 19 appearances in BM

~ Merle Thomas, “The Lettered Telegraph”, ‘RR holdup & telegraph operator’s daring’, sole appearance in BM

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Rebellious Egg”, ‘Crookedness & RR-building’, 6th of 9 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Sixty Minutes”, ‘Buck, who flies a Jenny, 1^st person narrator, & Sam Ellis’, 15th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

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

April 1930 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Red Hemp”, Jo Gar, 3^rd of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ J. J. Des Ormeaux, “Murderer’s Night”, ‘modern Western; 1^st-person narrator,’ 1^st of 5 stories in BM, (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Cyclone Shot”, Ned Beaumont, 2^nd of 4 stories that will go together to make up The Glass Key (published 1931), 42nd of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Your Play, Gentlemen”, 13th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘Burton in NYC, features Kyoto Kara, a Japanese’, 17th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Wise Guy”, 10th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy ’& the usual company’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 22 of 67 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Killers’ Show”, Mal Ourney, last of 5 stories, ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, published in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 39th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]