black mask magazine – Page 13

September 1931 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

September 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Carroll John Daly, “Death for Two”, 42nd of 53 with RW, Race ‘Williams pinch-hits for his friend, Sergeant O’Rourke’, reprinted in Shooting out of Turn: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.3 (Altus, 2017), 54th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Promise to Pay”, 37th of 73 Ed Jenkins, with Lui Sing Fong, patriarchal master of Chinatown, 2nd of 3 connected stories (7/1931 and 12/1931), 54th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Sound of Guns”, 16th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘set in NYC’, 22nd of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Pearls are Tears”, 6th of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 34 of 67 stories in BM

~ Stewart Stirling, (‘possible pseud. of Stewart Sterling?’), “Pushover”, 4^th of 8 stories with ‘Johnny Hi Gear, a.k.a. K-5, Undercover Agent’, ‘…& boxing fix’ [Sterling and Stirling were pen names of Nathaniel Prentice Winchell, 20 total stories in BM]. Reprinted in Boomerang Dice: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Johnny Hi Gear (Steeger Books, 2020).

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Terrace”, ‘Alan Van Cleve, wealthy sportsman, man-about-town, 2nd (of 6) segment in The Skyline Murders series; printed as separate stories rather than conventional serial’; pub. as Killer’s Carnival (1932) under pseudonym of Temple Field’, 50th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

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January 1946 issue ~ cover art by Gloria Stoll

January 1946 issue

cover art by Gloria Stoll

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “I Ain’t Got No Body”, 23rd of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 26^th of 32 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Hand Me Down My Thirty-Eight”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 9th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’ 10^th of 12 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Date with Dynamite”, 9^th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 14th of 23 stories in BM

~ C.G. Tahney, [pseud of Charles Green, not to be confused with Charles M. Green], “There’s Dough in Murder”, Nickie, aka ‘Sherlock in short pants’, last of 5 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

March 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

March 1946 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Thorne Lee, “The Mad Dog of Lame Creek”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Julius Long, “Forgive Not Our Trespassers”, 11th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 16th of 23 stories in BM

~ Dick Pearce, “Homicide Hangover”, ‘Major Bill Boyle, just back from WWII’, only appearance in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “You’re the Crime in My Coffin”, ‘Gerry Fowler of Fox, Fox, Shapiro & Fox, law firm’, 22nd of 27 stories in BM

~ Fergus Truslow, “The Killing Was Mutuel”, ‘Private snoop Galahan around Del Mar (California)’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM

~ K. Webster, “One Fall for Murder, ‘Steve Ransom, reporter; wrestling story’, last of 3 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1949 issue ~ cover art by

January 1949 issue

cover art by Peter Stevens

better image than previously posted

~ Maurice Beam, “Ear-witness”, ‘Malmin, lawyer’ (thought to be possibly a pseud. of Robert Leslie Bellem), last of 7 stories under this name in BM

~ D.L. Champion, “Extra-Alibi”, ‘Baxter Beamish, ex-con turned private eye; his business card reads “Set a Crook to Catch a Crook”’, 28^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Richard Deming, “No Pockets in a Shroud”, Manville “Manny” Moon, 1^st-person narrator, 3^rd of 6 stories in BM

~ G.T. Fleming-Roberts, “Legitimately Dead”, ‘Fells’, 6th of 8 stories in BM

~ Robert J. McCaig, “Trouble on Circuit 13”, ‘Marty Cullane, telephone lineman’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Robinson MacLean, “Somebody for the Wolves”, ‘Eddie O’Meara, shoestring Hollywood producer’, author’s only appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1947 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

January 1947 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “Heavenly Homicide”, 27th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 31st of 32 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “The Cold, Cold Ground”, 2^nd of 5 with Mortimer Jones, 2^nd of 9 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “I Remember Murder”, 15^th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ Donn Mullally, “The Corpse I Left Behind Me”, ’Martin Fowler in Hollywood’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ William Rough, “Hot Ice”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; last of 5 capers’ in BM

~ Donegan Wiggins, “The Double-Cross”, ‘brief-brief’, author’s only appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1947 UK edition

[UK cover added 5/16/25]

July 1951 issue ~ cover art by Harry Barton

July 1951

cover art by Harry Barton

~ Francis K. Allan, “Model for Death”, ‘reprint, not originally BM’, 2^nd appearance in BM

~ Agatha Christie, “The Face of Helen”, reprint, not originally in BM

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Once Around the Clock”, Flashgun Casey, reprinted from May ‘41, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977)

~ Robert C. Dennis, “Ride a Green Hearse”, last of 10 stories in BM, has the honor of being the last original story published in BM

~ G.T. Fleming-Roberts, “The Paper Doll”, last of 8 stories in BM [Hagemann does not note if this is original or a reprint]

~ Richard Sale, “Nail Down the Lid”, ‘reprint; not from BM’

LAST ISSUE OF THE ORIGINAL MAGAZINE

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Norman Saunders

Oil on board, 20.75 x 13.75 in. (sight) – not signed

May 1950 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Rufe Bakai, “The Random Kee-Whango”, sole appearance in BM

~ John Bender, “The High Cost of Lying”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “Glitter Street Nightmare”, ‘set in Hollywood’, 7th of 10 stories in BM

~ Dorothy Dunn, “Dead-End Darling”, ‘double-crosser’s comedown’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Jim T. Pearce, “Always Leave Them Dying…”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Albert Simmons, “Murder Is the Best Policy”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Tedd Thomey, “Homicide Honeymoon”, ‘Mario Giovani, rookie cop’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Robert P. Toombs, “A Kill for the Bride”, ‘Billed as a “Suspense-Packed Crime-Adventure Novelette”’, last of 3 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1949 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

September 1949

cover art by Norman Saunders

better image than previously posted

~ D.L. Champion, “Blackmail Backfire”, 25^th of 26,‘Red Sackler & Joey Graham’, 29^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Let Me Kill You Sweetheart”, 14^th of 16 stories in BM

~ James Hall, “Back Door to Hell”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Hiawatha Jones, “Murder Express”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Louis L’Amour, “Collect from a Corpse”, noted author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Phil Richards, “The Slay’s the Thing”, ‘James Greer, ex-playwright’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Robert P. Toombs, “Not Necessarily Dead”, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Robert Turner, “Man’s Best Friend”, ‘A dog named Satan’, 1^st of 4 stories in BM

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

November 1932 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Jack Bertin, “Sinful Cibola”, 2^nd of 5 Chip Huard stories, 3^rd of 6 stories in BM

~ Charles E. Cox, Jr., “No Quarter”, “‘Narrowest Escape’ series, supposedly factual”, Italian Front WWI, only story in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Magician Murder”, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue by RFW, 22nd of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Honest Money”, ‘1^st appearance [of 6] of Ken Corning, honest, fighting attorney in NYC; prototype for Perry Mason’, 65th of 99 stories in BM

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Fugitive”, last of 4 parts, ‘Jack Henderson, set in Far East, eg, Rangoon’, last of 9 works of fiction in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “South Wind”, ‘2nd (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; Tracy in North Carolina; see BM, Mar 1933, p. 124 for note on story’, 2nd of 26 stories in BM, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus, 1946

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Dead Men Tell Tales”, ‘Jay Cameron, hard-boiled city editor’, 2^nd story in this issue by RW’, 59th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

[image updated 10/27.25]

October 1925 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

October 1925 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~John Ayotte, “Hawaiian Driftage”, ‘opium ring in Honolulu: some characters from “The Puzzle of Hook Nam”, JA’s last appearance in BM’

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “The Mystery at Cragmoor”, only non-McGuirk story (see Apr 23), 14^th of 15 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “The Frame-Up”, author’s 1^st of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Alias Buttercup”, 10^th of 53 with RW, ‘Race Williams in Mexico’, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015), 18th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Joseph Gollomb, “A Pass Key to Scotland Yard”, 3rd of 6 articles

~ Donald MacGregor, “The Dancer in the East”, 5th of 10 stories

~ Charles Somerville, “A Weird Detective”, 44th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 46^th of 49 total articles in BM