December 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

December 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

Merle Constiner, “Parade of Empty Shoes” (The Dean)

Norbert Davis, “Take It From Me” (Bail-Bond Dodd)

Day Keene, “The Female is More Deadly” (P.I. Case)

Tom Marvin, “The Ghost Wore His Hat” (Shag Kyper)

D.L. Champion, “Imperfect Alibi”

December 1946 issue ~ cover art by Samuel Cherry

December 1946 issue

cover art by Samuel Cherry

better image than previously posted

Peter Paige, “A Little Corpse Who Wasn’t There”

John Whiting, “Death Sends Orchids”

H.H. Stinson, “Rancho el Maniac”

D.L. Champion, “A Hound for Murder” (Mariano Mercado)

February 1944 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

February 1944 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

D.L. Champion, “The Day Nobody Died” (Inspector Allhoff)

Lawrence Treat, “Death’s Old Sweet Song” (Edward Asa Scott)

Julius Long, “The Corpse Belongs to Daddy”

Alan Farley, “Man’s Best Friend is His Murder”

Clyde Morehead, “The Remembering Skull”

Berna Morris, “Winter Violets”

December 1941 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

December 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ D.L. Champion, “The Brand of Abel”, ‘desert setting’, 3rd of 30 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Jade Sanctuary”, 68th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘reader points out discrepancy in this story in Feb ’41 issue, p. 29’, 95th of 100 appearances in BM

~ Eaton K. Goldthwaite, “The Veiled Vampire”, ‘Duke Brian & Franny Steinmetz, ‘ex-felons from Philly’, now private dicks, more or less, Brian narrates’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ Harvey Howard, “Red Friday”, see 2/1940 for H.F. Howard: Hagemann says ‘entirely possible HH and HFH one and the same’

~ Jim Kjelgaard, “Backfire”, ‘short-short; wilderness setting’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM

~ Stewart Sterling, “Coat of Many Killers”, 2nd of 9 stories with ‘Special Squad (safe-and-loft)’, 5th of 12 stories under this name in BM [Sterling and Stirling were pen names of Nathaniel Prentice Winchell, 20 total stories in BM]

~ H.H. Stinson, “North of the Border”, 9th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 15th of 27 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1944 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

October 1944 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

“A Sleight Case of Murder” (Jeffrey Wren) by G.T. Fleming-Roberts

“Thanks for the Lovely Funeral” (Bill Brent) by Frederick C. Davis

“A Corpse Grows in Brooklyn” (Insp. Allhoff) by D.L. Champion

“Pool of Death” by Henry Norton

“Pass the Bullets, Miranda” by Ken Lewis

“Typical Killer” by Julius Long

January 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

January 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

T.T. Flynn, “Murder in a Dead Heat” (Mr. Maddox)

C.P. Donnell, Jr., ‘The Sweet Waters of Death” (Colonel Kaspir)

Cornell Woolrich, “The Body in Grant’s Tomb”

D.L. Champion, “The Grave Brings Silence”

November 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

November 1946 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ D.L. Champion, “Infernal Revenue”, 21st of 26 with Sackler, 23rd of 30 stories in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “I Thee Kill”, 1st of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 1st of 10 stories in BM

~ Jack Karney, “Shake Well and Kill”, ‘Garfield Dolan, red-headed private cop in NYC, 1st person narrator’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Paul Komisaruk, “Shot from in Close”, ’Harry Nyland, Consolidated Detective Agency narrates’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ C.M. (Cyril) Kornbluth, “The Brooklyn Eye”, ‘Tim Skeat, private cop, 1st person narrator, in NYC’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM, both with Skeat

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

May 1942 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

May 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

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

~ D.L. Champion, “Blood from a Turnip”, 8th of 26 with Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 9th 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, 11th of 32 stories in BM

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

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop