
originally published in 1931 by Day as Creeps by Night.
Gollancz published it the following year as Modern Tales of Horror
this is the 1961 Belmont reissue with a third title
better image than previously posted


originally published in 1931 by Day as Creeps by Night.
Gollancz published it the following year as Modern Tales of Horror
this is the 1961 Belmont reissue with a third title
better image than previously posted


better image than previously posted
cover art by Fred Craft
~ Tom Curry, “The Raiders”, 11th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 18th of 39 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Wax Wagon”, 17th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, with Helen Chadwick & Soo Hoo Duck, 27th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Cleansing of Poisonville”, 1st of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (published 1929), 26th of 45 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Get Burton”, 8th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 10th of 39 stories in BM
~ Raymond Emery Lawrence, “Riker Accomodates” [spelling in Hagemann], ‘aviator’, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ John W. McCardell, “The Return of Gun Eagen”, ‘Western’, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “With Benefit of Law”, ’boxing & crooks’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 9 of 67 stories in BM
~ Everett H. Tipton, “One Bad Man”, ‘Western’, 1st of 7 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Pearls”, ‘police dick, Lou Kyle’, 16th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Penrhyn Stanlaws
better image than previously posted
Dashiell Hammett, “Too Many Have Lived”, a Sam Spade short story – first appearance – illustrated by J. M. Clement
reprinted in 1945 in the Dell mapback A Man Called Spade

better image than previously posted
“A Man Called Spade”
“They Can Only Hang You Once”
“Too Many Have Lived”
“The Assistant Murderer”
“His Brother’s Keeper”


cover art by L.L. Balcom
most contents the same as US Sept. 1924
~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Dragon Fly”, 14th of 29 stories in BM [US Jan.’23]
~ Royce Brier, “Black and Blue”, ‘set in Mexico’, last of 5 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Accommodatin’ a Lady”, 1st of 10 Bob Larkin stories, 1st person narrator, author’s first appearance in BM under this name (see June, 1924), 2nd of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Women, Politics and Murder”, the Op [11th of 25], reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), in The Girl with the Silver Eyes: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, vol.2 (Steeger, 2023), 18th of 51 stories in BM
~ Francis James, “The Long Hand of Middleton”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman, 16th of 20 appearances in BM
~ Jud Pierce, “Sunrise”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Ray Raymond, “The Curse of the Long Tooth”, ‘South Seas mystery’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Rough Diamond”, 33rd of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 34th of 49 total articles in BM
~ George A. Wright, “The Mountain Comes to Mohammad”, author’s only appearance in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Fred Craft
~ Tom Curry, “Under Cover”, ‘DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 1st of 7, subtitled ‘The Receiver’, 20th 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 19th 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, 2nd with Craig, 3rd of 5 stories in BM
~ David Thibault, “The Contract”, ‘Louisiana lumber swamps in Mississippi Delta, Irish dialect’, 1st 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 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1925 issue
cover art by A.T. Stewart
~ Charles G. Booth, “One Shot”, ‘An Impossible Crime’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 4th of 7 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “Say It with Lead”, 8th 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), 16th of 71 appearances in BM
~ J.S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher, “The Skene-Dhu of Inverikie”, ‘A Family Mystery’, last of 6 appearances in BM
~ S.S. Gannett, “Invisible Fingers”, author’s sole story in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “No So Darned Bad”, 3rd of 73 Ed Jenkins, ‘the Phantom Crook again’, 7th of 99 stories in BM
~ Richard Frank Hagar, “In Sea Bats’ Craws”, ‘Mystery of the Sea’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Finger-Prints”, letter to ed, relating to article by Beffel in previous issue [not counted as a ‘story’]
~ Arthur Kearns, “That Grahame Gem Robbery”, ‘touted as ‘A Compressed Novelette’‘, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “Swift Work”, 41st of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 42nd of 49 total articles in BM
~ L. King Tichenor, “The Law Steps In”, ‘a confidence yarn’, 2nd of 5 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

better image than previously posted
cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer
~ Carroll John Daly, “Tainted Power”, 34th 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 , 4th 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”, 33th 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


Original advertising herald for W.S. Van Dyke’s 1934 film THE THIN MAN, based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel of the same name. The first of many Thin Man movies, this one starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Maureen O’Sullivan. This one’s a pristine example.

1944 Dell mapback reissue
better image than previously posted

selection of two connected Continental Op stories, “The Big Knockover” and “$106,000 Blood Money”:
“The Big Knock-over”, Black Mask Magazine, February 1927
“$106,000 Blood Money”, Black Mask Magazine, March 1927