black mask magazine – Page 7

June 1935 issue ~ cover art by Rudolph Belarski

June 1935 issue

cover art by Rudolph Belarski

~ 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 Paul 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

June 1951 issue

January 1951

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]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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

September 1930 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Guthrie Brown, “Stalemate”, ‘Western lynching’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Shooting Out of Town”, 37^th of 53 with Race Williams who ‘goes out of town on a gun job’, 49^thof 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Nagasaki Bound”, 1st half of Jo Gar story, 6^th of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ J. J. Des Ormeaux, “The Dago Trick”, ‘crook tale’, 2^nd of 5 stories in BM (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)

~ Joseph Harrington, “Footloose Goes Astray”, ‘Western’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Shake-Down”, 12th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 25 of 67 stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Bullets for Murder”, 4th of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, million-dollar robbery, 13th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Death in a Bowl”, 1^st of 3 serialized parts, ‘Ben Jardinn, Hollywood eye, & murder in Hollywood Bowl’, ‘(originally titled The Maestro Murder)’, published in hardcover in 1931 by Knopf, 41st of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

July 1939 issue ~ cover art by J. George Janes

July 1939 issue

cover art by J. George Janes

~ W.T. Ballard, “Death in the Zoo”, 32nd of 43 stories in BM

~ Maurice Beam, “Death Swing”, ‘stunt fliers’,(thought to possibly be a pseud. of Robert Leslie Bellem), 2^nd of 7 with this name in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “Framed for Hanging”, 28th of 29 stories in BM

~ Stewart Sterling (pseud. of Prentice Winchell), “Kill a Man Dead”, 2nd of 3 stories with Vince Mallie, 2nd of 12 stories

~ H.H. Stinson, “Murder Sweepstakes”, 7th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, ‘see pg. 7 for letter from HHS about O’H’, 12th of 27 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Borrowed Crime”, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 11th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

May 1942 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

May 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ W.T. Ballard, “Lights, Action – Killer!”, 27^th and last Lennox story in BM, 40^th of 43 stories in BM

~ D.L. Champion, “Blood from a Turnip”, 8^th of 26 with Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 9^th of 30 stories in BM.

~ Dale Clark, “Murder is No Joke”, 9th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 11^th of 32 stories in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Don’t Cry for Me”, 1^st of 3 with Hollywood piano man John Collins, 10^th of 13 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnell, Jr., “Death of the Party ”, 9th of 16 with Colonel Walter (Doc) Rennie, USA Medical Corps psychiatrist, 9th of 20 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Dormant Account”, 19th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

December 1935 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

December 1935 issue

cover art by John Drew

better image than previously posted

~ W.T. Ballard, “After Breakfast”, 2nd of 7 with ‘Red Drake, undercover investigator for the State Racing Commission, 1^st-person narrator’, 16^th of 43 stories in BM

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Tough People”, 1^st of 2 with Det. Sgt. Bob Land, border patrol, 13^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Above the Law”, 62^th Ed Jenkins, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 87th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Man from Monaco”, 23rd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 30th of 39 stories in BM

~ Eric Taylor, “Red Death”, ‘Gene Terry, detective, Metropolitan Agency’, 5th of 7 stories in BM