September 1939 UK edition ~ cover art J. George Janes

September 1939 UK edition

cover art J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Frank Collinson, “Death on the Prairie” [Part 2 of 2] ~ article does not appear in the US issue

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Dark Alleys”, 66th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, this one a spy story with Ngat T’oy and Soo Hoo Duck (‘Soo has a name for Jenkins – Sai Yan Pang Yeu: Man of the West Who is My Friend’)

~ Bill Gerry, “Autopsies Tell” [spelling in Hagemann], 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Headless Angel”, 11th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, this one in a swamp

~ John Lawrence, “Death to Spare”, 5th of 14 stories in BM

~ Peter Paige, “I Guard Nudes”, ‘factual article; PP is guard at New York’s World’s Fair’, 1st of 12 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Crime by the Forelock”, 13th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

March 1938 British edition ~ cover art by Raymond S. Pease

March 1938 British edition

cover art by Raymond S. Pease

contents same as US issue:

~ Max Brand, “The Silent Witness”, short-short, 2nd of 2 BM stories

~ Joseph Csida, “Bank Night Kill”, ‘narrated by a “contest dick”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Steve Fisher, “You’ll Always Remember Me”, ‘young punk murderer; psychopathic narrator’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 4th of 9 stories in BM

~ Frank Gruber, “Dog Show Murder”, 4th of 10 with ‘Oliver Quade, The Human Encyclopedia’, reprinted in The Hardboiled Dicks (1965), 5th of 14 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Three Apes from the East”, ‘Kerry Thorne, detective in L.A.’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 8th of 27 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

July 1945 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

July 1945 issue

~ Frances Beck, “Dig Down Deep”, only story in BM

~ Anthony Boucher [pseud. of William Anthony Parker White], “The Catalyst”, only story by Boucher in BM

~ D.L. Champion, “Spend, Killer, Spend”, 18th of 26 with Rex Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 20th of 30 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Open and Shut”, 21st of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 24th of 32 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “The Witch of Endor County”, 6th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 11th of 23 stories in BM

~ Henry Norton, “Here’s Homicide”, ‘Barney & Brownie, writers of a smash-hit radio whodunnit show with same name’, 5th of 6 stories in BM

~ Michael Sutton, “Jail Will Be Lonely”, Steve Duncan, hotel bouncer, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Fergus Truslow, “Death on Ice”, ‘Hendricks, rookie cop in L.A’, 1st of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1945 Canadian issue

[updated and corrected 1/29/26]