black mask magazine – Page 2

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

May 1930 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Crime Crusher”, 32^th Ed Jenkins & his wife Helen Chadwick, 1^st of a 3-part story, 49th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Dagger Point”, Ned Beaumont, 3^rd of 4 stories that will go together to make up The Glass Key (published 1931), 43rd of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Slowdown Hands”, 14th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 18th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Street Wolf”, ’Napoleon Damiani, gangster’, 23 of 67 stories in BM

~ Reuben Jennings Shay, “Backfire”, 1^st of 2 in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Temple Field aka Raoul Whitfield

Field, Temple (pseudonym of Raoul Whitfield). FIVE. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Incorporated Publishers, [1931]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-270 [271-274: blank], publisher’s light orange cloth stamped in brown, top edge stained light, other edges untrimmed. First edition. First of the two novels by Whitfield published in book form under the pseudonym “Temple Field.” First published in BLACK MASK in nine parts as “The Laughing Death,” as by Raoul Whitfield, it was largely rewritten for book publication. The story’s protagonist, a World War I flying ace (Whitfield did fly in WWI but not in combat) whose father, a prosecuting attorney, has been murdered, wreaks vengeance upon the five men involved. Hubin, p. 282. Slight spine roll, mild spine fade, a very good copy in good dust jacket priced $2.00 on the front flap with wear and fraying with shallow loss along the top and bottom edges, mainly spine ends, orange ink on spine panel faded away, soiling to rear panel and water stains with light show through on outer surface. Presents better than it appears from the written description. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down.

Black Mask issues containing the “Laughing Death” series

February 1929: “On the Spot”

March 1929: “Out of the Sky”

April 1929: “The Six-Gun Showdown”

May 1929: “High Odds”

June 1929: “Within the Circle”

July 1929: “The Carnival Kill”

August 1929: “River Street Death”

September 1929: “The Squeeze”

October 1929: “Sal the Dude”

Five Sinister Characters x 2

1945 Avon Murder Mystery Monthly digest

cover art by Paul Stahr

Avon Book Company, [1946]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Second paperback edition. Avon #88. Published earlier by Avon in 1945 as part of their “Murder Mystery Monthly” series. Collects five stories; “I’ll Be Waiting,” “The King in Yellow,” “Pearls Are a Nuisance,” ” Red Wind,” and “Trouble is My Business.” Light crease to front cover, light stress creases to spine, a near fine copy.

December 1933 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

December 1933 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Fred Craft

~ John L. Chambliss, “The Contact”, NYC PI Schuyler Blake, only appearance in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot”, his debut in BM, his first published writing, 1^st of 2 with PI Mallory, 1^st of 11 stories in BM, first book appearance in Five Murderers (Avon digest, 1944), reprinted in Red Wind (Tower hc, 1946), The Smell of Fear (Hamish Hamilton/UK hc, 1965), Midnight Raymond Chandler (Houghton Mifflin hc, 1971), The Black Mask Boys (Morrow, 1985)

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Chalk”, 2^nd of 5 with undercover Texas Ranger Cleve Corby, 8^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “Clancy Takes the Air”, Clancy, NYPD 1^st grade dick, author’s last of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Dead Men’s Shoes”, 53th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘The Phantom Crook’ with Ngat T’oy, 77th of 99 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder Again”, ‘L.A. County dicks; Hollywood story’, 65th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1, 1923 issue

April 1, 1923 issue

~ Eustace Hale Ball, “The Trail of the Scarlet Fox”, last of 6 parts with various subtitles, 6th of 13 appearances in BM

~ Raymond J. Brown, “Phantom Bullets”, part 1 of 5, only work in BM

~ Robert Clay, “The Man Who Hated Worms”, author’ only appearance in BM

~ David Dart, “The Held Up Hold-Up”, 2^nd and last story in BM

~ Arthur Floyd Henderson, “A Matter of Gallantry”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Francis James, “Spark of Death”, Prentice [(?) Hagemann includes question mark], 7th of 20 appearances in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Schuydenehome”, 1st of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “By Wire”, 5th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 5^th of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor and G[eorge] W. Sutton, Jr., “Burnt Hands”, part 1 of 2, ‘GWS was then editor of BM’, 1^st of 2 appearances by this team in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

November 1927 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The Raiders”, 11^th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1^st grade dick, 18^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Wax Wagon”, 17th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, with Helen Chadwick & Soo Hoo Duck, 27th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Cleansing of Poisonville”, 1^st of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (published 1929), 26^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Get Burton”, 8^th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 10th of 39 stories in BM

~ Raymond Emery Lawrence, “Riker Accomodates” [spelling in Hagemann], ‘aviator’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ John W. McCardell, “The Return of Gun Eagen”, ‘Western’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “With Benefit of Law”, ’boxing & crooks’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 9 of 67 stories in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “One Bad Man”, ‘Western’, 1^st of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Pearls”, ‘police dick, Lou Kyle’, 16th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1939 issue ~ cover art by James Lunnon

December 1938 issue

cover art by James Lunnon

better image than previously posted

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Careless Killer”, 3^rd of 7 Beeker stories, 17^th of 21 stories in BM

~ Allen Beck, “Long Live the Dead”, ‘magician’, only story in BM

~ Hugh B. Cave, “Smoke in Your Eyes”, ‘unusually well-plotted’, 5th of 9 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Stop the Presses”, 2^nd with reporter Murray Gifford, ‘see p. 51 for data on how FCD writes’, 6^th of 16 stories in BM

~ M.P. Hall, “Ad Lib”, ‘short-short, radio broadcasting’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Concealed Weapon”, ‘10 (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’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 37th of 50 appearances in BM

~ Donald Wandrei, “Come Clean”, last of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1942 issue ~ cover art by Milton Luros

January 1942 issue

cover art by Milton Luros

better image than previously posted

~ Walter C. Brown, “The Parrot That Wouldn’t Talk”, 1^st of 4 Sgt. Dennis O’Hara, aka Sah-Jin – NYC Chinatown squad

~ D.L. Champion, “What’s Money?”, 6^th of 26 with Sackler, 7^th of 30 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnell, Jr., “5 Shrieks at 10”, 7th of 16 with Colonel Walter (Doc) Rennie, USA Medical Corps psychiatrist, 7th of 20 stories in BM

~ J. Lane Linkletter, “The Shadowy Line”, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Bail Bait”, 6^th of 10 with PI Cellini Smith, 8^th of 12 appearances in BM

October 1938 issue ~ cover art by J. George Janes

October 1938 issue

cover art by J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Russell Bender, “Body-Guard to Death”, ‘Jake Connolly’, 2^nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “This Way to the Morgue”, 1^st of 2 with reporter Murray Gifford, 5^th of 16 stories in BM

~ Frank Gruber, “Forced Landing”, 6th of 10 with ‘Oliver Quade, The Human Encyclopedia’, ‘Quade in Hollywood; see p.5 for letter from FG on Oliver Q.’, 9th of 14 stories in BM

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “The Death Pool”, 7th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida

~ Roger Torrey, “Gardenia Kill”, ‘9th (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’, 36th of 50 appearances in BM

September 1948 issue ~ cover art by Paul Stevens

September 1948 issue

cover art by Paul Stevens

~ Terry O.K. Burleson, “Killer Bait”, ‘Modern Western’, only story in BM

~ D.L. Champion, “A Corpse Can’t Run”, ‘Dan Morgan, private eye’, 27^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Barry Cord, “Shoot If You Must”, Steve Weston, shamus, only story in BM

~ R.M.F. Joses, “Side Bet on Death”, last of 3 with ‘Hollywood private snoop Duane, 1^st person narrator’, this story set in Vegas, 3^rd of 4 stories in BM

~ John H. Knox, “Goodbye, Enemy”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ John D. MacDonald, “The Case of the Carved Model”, ‘Sam Dermott, police dick’, 2^nd of 6 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Murder Is a Pleasure”, ‘Sam Terry, p.i., & partner, Sol Hirshberg; LA setting’, last of 27 stories in BM