black mask magazine – Page 6

November 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

November 1927 issue

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]

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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

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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

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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

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September 1948 issue ~ cover art by Peter Stevens

September 1948 issue

cover art by Peter 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

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/29/26, original art added 2/28/26]

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

December 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Javanese Mask”, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue by RFW, Jo Gar, 17^th of 24 Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Strictly Personal”, 39th of 73 Ed Jenkins, ‘Jenkins’ return after death of his wife, Helen, which had broken him; out of hospital & in Chinatown with Lui Sing Fong’, [patriarchal master of Chinatown], last of 3 connected stories (7/1931 and 9/1931), 56th of 99 stories in BM

~ Ed Lybeck, “Leaded Ink”, ’debut of Francis St. Xavier Harrigan, reporter on Leader’, 1^st of 4 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Some Die Young”, 16th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 37 of 67 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “For Sale, The Golden Queen”, ‘Western; Agamemnon Jones & Hy, 1^st-person narrator, Golden Queen is a gold mine’, 7^th of 8 with Red Saunders, 11th of 12 stories in BM

~ Stewart Stirling, (possible pseud. of Stewart Sterling?), “600 to 1”, 5^th of 8 stories with ‘Johnny Hi Gear, a.k.a. K-5, Undercover Agent’ with ‘King Collis, Negro policy king; racial slurs’

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Unfair Exchange”, ‘Alan Van Cleve, wealthy sportsman, man-about-town, 5th (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’, 2^nd story in this issue, 53rd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

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

October 1930 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Nagasaki Knives”, 2nd half of Jo Gar story, 7^th of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Dark Pack”, ‘Western’, 19th of 39 stories in BM

~ James Howard Leveque, “Nigger Loon”, bayou tale, sole appearance in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “’Shot!’”, 1^st of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “Ladies Love Diamonds”, ‘San Francisco setting’, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Death in a Bowl”, 2nd of 3 serialized parts, ‘Ben Jardinn, Hollywood eye, & murder in Hollywood Bowl’, ‘(originally titled The Maestro Murder)’, published in hardcover in 1931 by Knopf, 42nd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1939 issue ~ cover art by James Lunnon

January 1939 issue

cover art by James Lunnon

better image than previously posted

~ James Duncan, “Murder for Pennies”, last of 5 stories with The Parson, who lives on a ‘mythical’ (fictional?) isle, Cariba, reprinted in Murder for Pennies: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Parson (Steeger, 2024), last of 10 appearances in BM

~ Steve Fisher, “Jake and Jill”, ‘Honolulu setting’, 7^th of 9 stories in BM

~ Jackson Gregory, “Dusty Death”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM, this the only original one (see 5/1951)

~ H.W. Guernsey, “A Thousand Iron Men”, ‘iron men’ = $1 bill’, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ Eric Howard, “The Doc and the Dame”, last of 6 stories in BM

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Arson”, 9th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, ‘see p. 63 for note by BHK on story’

~ H.H. Stinson, “All-American Menace”, 10th of 27 stories in BM

February 1940 issue ~ cover art by J. George Janes

February 1940 issue

cover art by J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Maurice Beam, “The White Lie”, ‘see p. 29 for letter from BM about story’, (thought to be possibly a pseud. of Robert Leslie Bellem), 5^th of 7 stories under this name in BM

~ H.W. Guernsey, “The Last Pin”, ‘short-short’, last of 4 stories in BM

~ H.F. Howard, “The Corpse Takes a Wife”, see 12/1940 for Harvey Howard: Hagemann says ‘entirely possible HH and HFH one and the same’

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Fisherman’s Luck”, 13th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, ‘Rice in South Florida’

~ Peter Paige, “Blackout!”, ‘spy story; set in Paris, early WWII‘, 4th of 12 stories in BM

~ William Tanquery, “Getting Maizie”, ‘Mac MacGrath & Jennie Komorawski, rival reporters’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Murder for Your Money”, ‘last (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’, 42nd of 50 appearances in BM

May 1921 issue ~ cover art by Archie Gunn

May 1921 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Archie Gunn

~ John Baer, “The Struggle in the Dark”, 5^th of 24 stories in BM

~ Walter De Leon, “Marked By the Moon”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Paul Everman, “A Call at Carnagy’s”, ‘short-short’, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ Clinton [aka Charles] Harcourt, “The Reflection in the Mirror”, last of 6 stories in BM

~ Julian Kilman, “The Fugitive”, 5th of 6 stories in BM

~ William H. Kofoed, “The Foot on the Skylight”, last of 3 stories in BM [under this name?]

~ Robert K. Lennox, “The Price of Vanity”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Lloyd Lonergan, “The Hunch”, 1^st of 8 stories in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “ The Telegram”, and “Told By a Card”, 2 stories in this issue, 9th and 10^th of 29 stories in BM

~ Angus Perkerson, “Ether”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Hubert de Tavanne Roussel, “The Trap”, ‘short-short’, 4th of 7 stories in BM

~ Anthony M. Rud, “The Farson Enigma”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Harold Ward, “Out of the Jaws of Death”, ‘short-short’, 14th of 29 stories under this name in BM [21st of 46 stories in BM under three different names – Ward Sterling and H.W. Starr]