June 1932 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

June 1932 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Thomson Burtis, “They Don’t Shake Hands in Arkansas”, ‘Slats Kirke in Detroit’, 4th of 6 appearances in BM

~ Paul Cain, “Velvet”, ‘Kells & Granquist; part 3 of Fast One’, reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), Black Mask: The Complete Stories (2013 Mysterious Press), Lead Party: The Complete Fiction Works of Paul Cain (Steeger, 2024), 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 45th of 53 with Race Williams, part 3 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, reprinted in If Death is Respectable: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.4 (Altus, 2018), 57th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Reform Racket”, ‘Dan Stiles; one-time gunman’, 1st of 13 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Cooking Crooks”, 44th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘with Norma Gay’, 61st of 99 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Golden Rule”, 11th of 14 Frost stories ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in Headfirst into Hell: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Front, Vol. 2 (Steeger, 2025), 13h of 17 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Touch of Nature”, Western mystery, last of 8 with Red Saunders who ‘fights a “wild man in kilts”’, last of 12 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 1941 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

August 1941 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

Merle Constiner, “The Puzzle of the Terrified Dummy” (The Dean)

T.T. Flynn, “Post-Mortem at Pimlico” (Mr. Maddox)

Hugh B. Cave, “Ding Dong Belle” (Peter Kane)

Jan Dana, “Death in the Center” (Acme Insurance Op)

C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Fraulein Judas”

April 1943 issue ~ cover art by Emery Clarke

April 1943 issue

cover art by Emery Clarke

Kenneth Robeson, “The King of Terror”

better image than previously posted

as violent, bloody, sexist, sadomasochistic, racist, and lurid as the pulp covers were, this one has to be perhaps the most grisly of all…