black mask magazine – Page 9

August 1942 British edition

August 1942 British edition

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

June 1930 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Carroll John Daly, “Tainted Power”, 34^th of 53, ‘Williams &‘The Flame’ aka Florence Drummond, ‘The Girl with the Criminal Mind’, Pt. 1 of loosely organized 3-pt. serial; pub. As novel (1931) under same title’, 46th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Signals of Storm”, Jo Gar, PI with office in Manila , 4^th of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hell’s Kettle”, 33^th Ed Jenkins & his wife Helen Chadwick, 2nd of a 3-part story with The Crime Crusher, 50th of 99 stories in BM, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow)

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Shattered Key”, Ned Beaumont, last of 4 stories that will go together to make up The Glass Key (published 1931), issue includes editor’s note on DH, 44th of 45 stories in BM

~ Hapsburg Liebe, “Red Dice”, ‘Blaze Hanson in Florida cattle country; see p. 120 for HL’s comment on story’ 3rd of 4 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1925 issue ~ cover art by A.T. Stewart

April 1925 issue

cover art by A.T. Stewart

~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Shola Al”, ‘a detective story’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ C. Chapin, “Room Rent”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Valma Clark, “A Little Matter of Chivalry”, “A Mystery of Real Life”, only appearance in BM

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “The System of T. McGuirk”, ‘11th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 11^th of 15 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Conceited, Maybe”, 7^th of 53 with Race Williams, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015) 15th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Arthur Kearns, “A Born Thief”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Genevieve Neegard, “The Sandalwood Casket”, advertised as ‘a meek man drunk with blood’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Treasures That Dead Men Guard”, part 3 of 3, last of 3 stories with Jack Darrow, 12th of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Grey-Green House”, 39th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 40^th of 49 total articles in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1921 issue

November 1921 issue

~ John Baer, “The Silver Lining”, 11^th of 24 stories in BM

~ Walter Deffenbaugh, “The Talking Wind”, 6^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Elizabeth (Bessie) Dudley, “The Blonde Shadow”, 2nd of 4 stories in BM

~ Grover Fayerweather, “When Two Plus Two Equals Five”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Victor Lauriston, “The Dead Man’s Letters”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ H.W. Starr, “The Sheriff Takes the Stand”, 1^st of 3 stories by the same author under 3 different names (with Ward and Sterling) in this issue

~ Ward Sterling, “The Whip of Death”, 2nd of 3 stories in this issue (see Ward), 9th of 16 stories under this name in BM

~ Frederic J. Thorne, “The Death Warrant”, part 2 of 2, ‘A Mystery Novel’, 5th of 10 stories

~ Frederic J. Thorne, “The Man Who Died Twice”, ‘narrated by defendant to jury; murder of twins in Seattle & Hong Kong’, 2^nd of 2 stories in this issue, 6th of 10 stories in BM

~ Harold Ward, “The Hand of Destiny”, ‘Secret Service op, 1^st person narrator’, 3^rd story in this issue, 18th of 29 stories under this name in BM [26^th, 27^th and 28th of 46 stories in BM under three different names – Ward Sterling and H.W. Starr]

~ J.R. Ward, “The Bamboozler”, ‘N.B. It is possible that JRW is also a pseudonym of Harold Ward’, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue, 1^st of three under this name in BM

~ J.R. Ward, “The Emperor of Blunderland”, 2^nd of 2 stories in this issue, last of three under this name in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

October 1936 issue

cover art by John Drew

better image than previously posted

~ Russell Bender, “Heat Target”, ‘mayor of a small Maryland town’, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ John K. Butler, “No Rest for Soldiers”, ‘WWI vets, bonuses & Russ McGregor’, 5^th of 11 stories in BM

~ Lester Dent, “Sail”, 1^st Oscar Sale story, set in Miami, 1^st of 2 stories in BM, reprinted The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), earlier version of this story reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010) as “Luck”. “Sail” and “Luck” reprinted in Luck: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Oscar Sail (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ Roger Torrey, “Jail Bait”, ‘1st (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’, 21st of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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

June 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Gunhands”, Western with Bob Burney, 5^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “’The Flame’ and Race Williams”, 39^th of 53 with RW, part 1 of 3, ‘pub.as The Third Murderer (1931)’, reprinted in Shooting out of Turn: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.3 (Altus, 2017), 51st of 71 appearances in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “Gunman’s Goal”, ‘Tip Wing’, last of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Lights Out at Benetti’s”, 5^th of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, Benetti’s is a nightclub, 15th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Stewart Stirling, (‘possible pseud. of Stewart Sterling?’), “Two-Timer”, 2^nd of 8 stories with ‘Johnny Hi Gear, a.k.a. K-5, Undercover Agent’ [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, “For Sale – Murder”, ‘Center City yarn, Gil Baggart, a square dick’, sequel to “Soft City” in previous issue, 49th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

March 1950 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

March 1950 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Norman Saunders

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Swing Low, Sweet Casket”, 15^th of 16 stories in BM

~ Dean Evans, “Hot-Rod Homicide”, 2^nd of 3 stories in BM

~ John P. Foran, “Epitaph for an Eager Beaver”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Fred Lane, “Slayer at Sea”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Hank Searls, “Drop Dead Twice”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Walter Snow, “Boozer Take All”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Bryce Walton, “Skid-Row Slaughter”, author’s sole appearance in BM

September 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

September 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Cleve Adams, “That Certain Feeling”, ‘Engelhardt & Dewey, Car 97, LA setting’, 2^nd of 6 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Pictures for Murder”, 22nd of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 34th of 43 stories in BM

~ William E. Brandon, “Danny, Once the Rat”, ‘police-stoolie & Nazi spies’, 3^rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Killer in the Wind”, 2^nd of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 4^th of 32 stories in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Death in the Pluperfect”, 1^st of 2 stories with ‘Ace McGuire, Broadway squad, 1^st-person narrator’, 7^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Dog Eat Dog”, Cellini Smith and RR’s debut, 1^st of 3 parts that will be published as the novel No Love Lost in 1941, reprinted in Dead and Done For: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith (Steeger, 2020), 1^st of 12 appearances in BM

December 1946 British issue

December 1946 British issue

May 1946 issue in the US

November 1922 issue ~ cover art by A. Rose

November 1922 issue

cover art by A. Rose

~Eustace Hale Ball & Earl Derby, “Dead Men Do Tell!”, ‘The First of the Black Mask Daytime Stories – not to be read at night by people with weak nerves.” EHB’s debut in BM

~ Carl Clausen, “The Careful Alibi”, ‘Complete Novelette’, 2^nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Frederick Ames Coates, “Bottled Judgment”, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Peter Condet, “The Indorsed Check”, ‘baseball background’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Thomas Ewing Dabney, “Tom Shepherd and the Rat”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Marie Eisenbrandt, “The Breaking Point”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ John Hanlon, “A Shred of Yellow Paper, ‘short-short, less than a half page‘, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ Roy L. McCardell, “A Million A Year”, 1st of 4 parts, 1^st of 5 appearances in BM

~ J.R. McCarthy, “Payment As Promised”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ John McColl, “But She Looked Lovely”, ‘poem’, 1^st of 3 works in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Goat”, 13th of 29 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “Shark-Bait”, ‘short-short‘, 5th of 20 stories in BM

~ A. Rose, “A Substitute for Blood”, ‘story illus. by author who also designed cover of issue’, author’s sole story in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “The Life of a Hold-Up Man”, ‘1^st (of 12) tales in ‘My Underworld’ series; JT is advertised as ‘ex-automobile bandit’ with 15 years’ experience in crime; early on, listed as fact; later, as fiction; see p. 40 for photo-portrait of JT’, 1st of 13^th appearances in BM

~ Sally Dixon Wright, “The House on the Dunes”, author’s only appearance in BM

[cover updated 11/8/25]

@font-face
{font-family:”Cambria Math”;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}