continental op – Page 2

January 1925 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

January 1925 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Frank Hepburn Crawford, “Silver Bullets”, ‘A weird, unusual tale’, only appearance in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Beyond the Law”, 1st of 73 with ‘Ed Jenkins, The Phantom Crook, 1^st-person narrator; a.k.a Bob Sabin, private detective; full name Edward Gordon Jenkins; more often than not, stories take place in San Francisco’s Chinatown’, 4^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Mike or Alex or Rufus”, the Op [9^th of 22], 14^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Corpse in the Woods”, 36th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Solon K. Stewart, “The Trail of the Feathered Snake”, ‘A Complete Mystery Novelette’, last of 3 appearances in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Little Blonde Nightmare”, 2nd of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 5th of 19 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1925 British issue

[updated 1/3/26]

February 1, 1924 issue ~ cover art by Onestus Uzzell

February 1, 1924 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Onestus Uzzell

~ Carl Asher, “And This Is How It Is”, ‘short story; “a satire”’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ John Ayotte, “Rifles”, ‘Capt. Ayotte has departed Hawaii in fact & fiction’, 8^th of 10 stories in BM

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “T. McGuirk, Movie Actor”, ‘8th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 8^th of 15 stories in BM

~ Charles M. Green [pseud. of Erle Stanley Gardner], “The Verdict”, last of 3 stories in BM under this name

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Night Shots”, ‘the Op [3^rd of 22] or as BM bills him ‘Mr. Hammett’s nameless detective’, 6th of 45 stories in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Sandalwood Box”, 5^th of 10 with ‘Captain Valentine, that ‘attractive European scalawag’, adventurer and rascal’, 21th of 29 stories in BM

~Jennings Perry, “The Master of the Maisie”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “That Yellow Devil”, 1^st of 2 parts, ‘Madame Pinar, Eurasian’, 16th of 20 stories in BM

~ Henry Serrano, “The Ghost of the Hesperides”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Don Cameron Shafer, “The Hunters”, ‘tiger-hunting in India’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The ‘Cat’ Detective’, 24th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Kid’s Hole Card”, ‘Western’, 3rd of 9 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 11/8/25]

December 1, 1923 issue ~ cover art by L.L. Balcom

December 1, 1923 issue

cover art by L.L. Balcom

~ Eustace Hale Ball,“When 7539 Went Black”, ‘7539 is a convict’, 10^th of 13 stories in BM

~ Henry W. Fisher, “Executioners I Have Met”, ‘3rd^t of 6 ‘true’ articles with various subtitles’

~ Francis James, “The Sand Devil”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman with Police Chief Shannon, 1^st of 4 parts, 10th of 20 appearances in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Bodies Pile Up”, Continental Op, 4th of 25, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow), reprinted in Nightmare Town as “House Dick” (Knopf, 1999), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), reprinted in Zigzags of Treachery: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, Vol. 1 (Steeger, 2023), 8th of 51 stories in BM

~ Fred McLaughlin, “The White Streak”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Harold Freeman Miners, “Oscar the Terrible”, 1^st of 4 with ‘Topanga John, ancient desert rat’, 1^st of 5 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “One Dried Head”, last of 3 parts, South Seas, 13th of 20 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Vultures’ Trail”, 20th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Willett Stockard, “Punctual”, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Emmet Welsh, “The Slippery Eel”, ‘Billed as “A Complete Fast-Moving Novelette”; NYC police; oddly, in 15 Nov 1923 issue (p. 42) author is listed as Robert E. Welch’, sole appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1924 issue

November 1924 issue

one of the few times a Continental Op story by Dashiell Hammett was not in a copy of Black Mask Magazine: “Who Killed Bob Teal?”

November 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

February 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “Under Cover”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 1^st of 7, subtitled ‘The Receiver’, 20^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Yellow Shadows, 19th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, in Chinatown with Helen Chadwick and Ngat T’oy; “headnote to story provides valuable data (background)”, 29th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The 19^th Murder”, last of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (Knopf hc, 1929), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 35th of 51 stories in BM

~ Charles T. Hickey, “Left Helps the Cops”, ‘Lefty McRae, crook’, author’s only story in BM

~ Victor Shaw, “The Tommy-Knocker”, Dan Craig & hard rock mining, 2^nd with Craig, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ David Thibault, “The Contract”, ‘Louisiana lumber swamps in Mississippi Delta, Irish dialect’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “Leather Mask and Cowhide Vest”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Soft Goods”, ‘Little Bennie, a hood, & Charlie Harmer, detective, in Center City’, 18th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/22/26]

January 1977 Vintage paperback original, 1st printing

January 1977 Vintage paperback original, 1st printing

edited and with an introduction by Herbert Ruhm

Carroll John Daly, “The False Burton Combs” (Dec, 1922)

Peter Collinson, “The Road Home” (Dashiell Hammettt, Dec, 1922)

Dashiell Hammett, “The Gutting of Couffignal” (Dec, 1925)

Norbert Davis, “Kansas City Flash” (Mar, 1933)

Frederick Nebel, “Take It and Like It” (June, 1934)

Raymond Chandler, “Goldfish” (June, 1936)

Lester Dent, “Angelfish” (Dec, 1936)

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Leg Man” (Feb, 1938)

George Harmon Coxe, “Once Around the Clock” (May, 1941)

Merle Constiner, “The Turkey Buzzard Blues” (July, 1943)

William Brandon, “It’s So Peaceful in the Country” (Nov, 1943)

Curt Hamlin, “Killer Come Home” (his only Black Mask story, July, 1948)

Paul W. Fairman, “Big-Time Operator” (his only Black Mask story, July, 1948)

Bruno Fischer, “Five O’Clock Menace” (May, 1949)

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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

November 1930 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Border Guns”, ‘Western; Johnny Hearne, Border patrolman’, 4^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “The Man from Headquarters”, 20^th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1^st grade dick, 35^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Death and Company”, ‘last Op [22^nd] story and DH’s final appearance in BM’, last of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Lone Hand Tactics”, 2nd of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 20^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Rough Justice”, 1^st of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, 26 of 67 stories in BM, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow), reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus)

~ James P. Olsen, “Horror Hacienda”, ’Wolf Cazell in New Mexico’, 2nd of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Death in a Bowl”, last of 3 serialized parts, ‘Ben Jardinn, Hollywood eye, & murder in Hollywood Bowl’, ‘(originally titled The Maestro Murder)’, published in hardcover in 1931 by Knopf, 43rd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

December 1925 issue

December 1925 issue

~ Carroll John Daly, “Under Cover”, 1st of 2 parts, Race Williams, 11^th of 53, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015), 19th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Triple Cross”, 5th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, 11^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Joseph Gollomb, “Vienna’s Scholarly Detectives”, 5th of 6 articles

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Gutting of Couffignal”, the Op [18^th of 25], reprinted in The Return of the Continental Op (Dell mapback, 1947), reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 25th of 51 stories in BM

~ Donald MacGregor, “The House of Flashing Lights”, ‘concerning a vaudeville actor’, 7th of 10 stories

~ Benjamin Michalek, “The Invisible Order of the Living Dead”, “advertised as ‘strange and weird story’”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “Trapped”, 45^th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 47^th of 49 total articles in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “The German Field Glass”, 8th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 11th of 19 appearances in BM

February 1929 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

February 1929 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Tom Curry, “The Taste of Blood”, 16^th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1^st grade dick, ‘small-time crook develops into killer’, 27^th of 39stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Bracelets for Two”, 25th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, 38th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Black Riddle”, last of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up The Dain Curse (Knopf hc, 1929), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 39th of 51 stories in BM

~ Carl L. Martin, “Still Buzzards”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, and friends in the delta, 5th of 6 in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Brewed at Benetti’s”, 1^st of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 4th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “On the Spot”, ‘Gary Greer; 1st (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 26th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]. Reprinted in Laughing Death (Steeger Books, 2021).

[updated 6/4/24]