Tag: black mask magazine

December 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

     December 1936 issue

cover art by John Drew

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Murder on the Side”, ‘unemployed reporter, 1st-person narrator’, 12th of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Whipsawed”, 17th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 23rd of 43 stories in BM

~ James Francis Bonnell, “Address Unknown”, short-short, only appearance in BM

~ Paul Cain, “Dutch Treat”, ‘emeralds’, reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), last of 17 stories in BM

~ Lester Dent, “Angelfish”, 2nd Oscar Sale story, last story in BM, reprinted in The Hardboiled Dicks (1965), and The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), last of 2 stories in BM. Reprinted in Luck: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Oscar Sail (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ James Duncan, “Thoroughbred”, ‘Jerry Breton 1st-grade dick, & Florida Racing Commission’, 5th of 10 stories in BM

~ E.G. Morris, “Panic”, ‘petty crook’s panic’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “The Irish Have It”, ‘2nd (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 23rd of 50 appearances in BM

better image than previously posted

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[image updated 6/2/24]

1939 Knopf hardcover – cover art by Hawkins

First Edition. Hawkins dustjacket art. Rare hard-boiled mystery by this author who died young in 1945.

first novel with private eye Cellini Smith

there had been seven Smith short stories published in Black Mask Magazine by the time of the author’s death.

September 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

September 1936 issue

cover art by John Drew

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Men of the FBI”, 6th of 7 with LA FBI agent Chuck Thompson, 11th of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “There’s No Excuses for Murder”, 15th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, ‘LaBrea Tar Pits figure into the story’, 21st of 43 stories in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “The Curtain”, PI Carmody #3 of 4, reprinted in the anthology Killer in the Rain, 1963 Hamish Hamilton UK hardcover, first book appearance, 10th of 11 stories in BM

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Too Many Women”, 18th of 27 with Flashgun Casey, 21st of 31 stories in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Murder Maze”, ‘17th (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 meets a Coney Island “Hindu”, reprinted in Murder Maze: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.2 (Steeger 2022), 18th of 26 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 11/8/25]

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

Oil on canvas, 25 x 18 inches (63.5 x 45.7 cm)
Signed lower right

November 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael De Soto

~ Dale Clark, “Now I Slay Me – ”, 12th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 14th of 32 stories in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Beat Me Daddy”, 2nd of 3 with Hollywood piano man John Collins, 12th of 13 stories in BM

~ Alan Farley [pseudonym of Mrs. W. Lee Herrington], “How Big Is the Bucket?”, ‘her 1st pub. Story; see p. 8 for brief biographical note’, and 1st of 2 in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “A Taste for Murder”, 7th of 10 with PI Cellini Smith, 9th of 12 appearances in BM

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

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1949 UK issue ~ cover art by Peter Stevens

June 1949 UK

cover art by Peter Stevens

“British edition of the hardboiled detective pulp magazine Black Mask. This issue is a partial reprint of the January 1949 American issue, leaving out the short story “Extra Alibi” by D. L. Champion and the article “Bullets, Ballistics And Bloodshed” by J. E. B. Cole.”

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

January 1930 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Double or Quit”, 31th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘last episode in his fight with Ramsey: Arthur Hemington also around’, 48th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part last of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), 39th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Little Black Book”, 4th of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 5th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Tough Treatment”, 8th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, ‘but not in Richmond City’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 20 of 67 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Chance Shot”, ‘Western mystery’, 4th of 8 with Red Saunders, 8th of 12 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Smoke”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 2 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, published in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 36th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[image updated 9/18/24]

December 1934 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

December 1934

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Too Many Slips”, ‘1st Al, bodyguard, story’, 3rd of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Isn’t Legal”, 11th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 11th of 43 stories in BM

~ Eugene Cunningham, “An Old Spanish Custom”, 2nd of 2 with Western with Pony Kerr, 12th of 14 stories in BM

~ Hugh Lundie, “A Farewell to Strife”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Trivial, Like Murder”, 2nd of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 2nd of 27 stories in BM

cover art by Norman Saunders

oil on board, 16″ X 21″

unidentified 1950s pulp magazine cover, similar composition to a September 1950 Black Mask issue, so perhaps this was an earlier version of the idea?

Oil on board, 21-1/4 x 14-3/8 inches (54.0 x 36.5 cm) (sight)
Not signed

[cover updated 1/30/26]

unused Black Mask cover art by James Lunnon

“From the estate of the American artist James Lunnon, this is an unsigned proposed Black Mask pulp cover painting which was slated for publication in May of 1940. The yellow left side field is a telling trait and was unique to the title – this format was used between January 1937 to April of 1940, with many of these covers painted by James Lunnon. There was no May, 1940 issue, as the title was sold to Popular Publications right after the April 1940 issue and when the magazine appeared again in June of 1940, it had a completely redesigned look. Our guess is that this painting was intended as the cover for the 5/40 issue, but with the change of publishers causing that issue to be skipped, and the then resulting change in cover design, it was never used.”

oil on canvas, 18″x24″

December 1925 issue

December 1925 issue

~ Carroll John Daly, “Under Cover”, 1st of 2 parts, Race Williams, 11th of 53, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015), 19th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Triple Cross”, 5th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, 11th of 99 stories in BM

~ Joseph Gollomb, “Vienna’s Scholarly Detectives”, 5th of 6 articles

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Gutting of Couffignal”, the Op [18th of 25], reprinted in The Return of the Continental Op (Dell mapback, 1947), reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 25th of 51 stories in BM

~ Donald MacGregor, “The House of Flashing Lights”, ‘concerning a vaudeville actor’, 7th of 10 stories

~ Benjamin Michalek, “The Invisible Order of the Living Dead”, “advertised as ‘strange and weird story’”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “Trapped”, 45th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 47th of 49 total articles in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “The German Field Glass”, 8th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 11th of 19 appearances in BM