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
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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
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cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer
~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Red Hemp”, Jo Gar, 3rd of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)
~ J. J. Des Ormeaux, “Murderer’s Night”, ‘modern Western; 1st-person narrator,’ 1st of 5 stories in BM, (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Cyclone Shot”, Ned Beaumont, 2nd of 4 stories that will go together to make up The Glass Key (published 1931), 42nd of 45 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Your Play, Gentlemen”, 13th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘Burton in NYC, features Kyoto Kara, a Japanese’, 17th of 39 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Wise Guy”, 10th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy ’& the usual company’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 22 of 67 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Killers’ Show”, Mal Ourney, last of 5 stories, ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, published in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 39th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
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cover art by H.C. Murphy
~ Ray(mond) King, “T. McGuirk Lends a Helping Hand”, ‘13th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 13th of 15 stories in BM
~ Joseph Gollomb, “The Man Who Stole a Palace”, ‘study of Parisian police methods’, 2nd of 6 articles
~ Glenn G. Gravatt, “The Million Dollar Robbery”, ‘The Manhunters; for this series, see chiefly under Charles Somerville,’ author’s only appearance in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Corkscrew”, ‘The Op [12th of 22] in Arizona, billed as ‘A Western Detective Novelette’, reprinted in As Tough as They Come (Perma, 1951), 17th of 45 stories in BM
~ William La Varre, “The Golden Head”, ‘A Daytime Story’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Ralph E. Mooney, “Outside the World”, ‘attempted murder of an editor’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ L. King Tichenor, “A Just Price”, ‘The Senator’ [no other explanation], 4th of 5 stories in BM
~ Henry S. Whitehead, “The Gladstone Bag”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Valleau Wilkie, “The White Elephant”, ‘Billed as “A Last Minute Mystery”’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Jack Woodford, “Blank Fingers”, ‘article; fingerprints; cf. under John Nicholas Beffel’, May 1925 issue
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Dashiell Hammett lived in this San Francisco building while writing The Maltese Falcon
Hammett – and Spade – lived in the top, right apartment.
Scene of the Crime
The Flood Building, where Hammett worked as a Pinkerton Agent.
John’s Grill, where Spade dined, still in business after all these decades.
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Frederic Forrest as Dashiell Hammett in Wim Wender’s Hammett.
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cover art by John Decker
~ John Ayotte, “The Black Cracksman”, ‘A white Hawaiian thrill’, 6th of 10 stories in BM
~ Eustace Hale Ball, “Grandfather’s Will”, 8th of 13 stories in BM
~ ‘Peter Collinson’ (Dashiell Hammett), “Arson Plus”, ‘1st Continental Op story & billed as ‘full of fire’; see p, 127 for letter by DH’, 3rd of 4 stories under this name, reprinted in The Arbor House Treasury of Detective & Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010)
~ Donald Feak, “Black Commandments”, ‘South Seas Tale’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM
~ Newton A. Fuessle, “The Purple Mask”, ‘Kenneth Fuessle and Newton may be the same writer’, 2nd of 2 stories under this name
~ Robert Russell, “Greggs Over-Reaches”, last of 3 stories in BM
~ Harry Simon, “The Man Who Passed Judgment”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Sleepless Eye”, 16th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series
~ Willett Stockard, “Hutch Blood”, ‘billed as “a Black Mask weirdity”’, 4th of 5 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
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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, 1st-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’, 4th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Mike or Alex or Rufus”, the Op [9th of 22], 14th 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
[updated 1/3/26]
cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer
~ Tom Curry, “The Web”, John Flahertie, the lone wolf, Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, a secondary character. 34th of 39 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “The Silver Eagle”, 32nd of 53,‘Pt. 1, Race Williams & The Flame; serial dropped after Pt.2’, 44th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Straight from the Shoulder”, 28th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Helen Chadwick and Arthur Hemington, “here & elsewhere; cf. ‘Triple Treachery’” [12/1929 issue], 45th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 2 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 36th of 45 stories in BM
~ Horace McCoy, “Hell’s Stepsons”, 2nd of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 3rd of 17 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Sal the Dude”, Gary Greer, last (9th) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 34th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta], reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow)
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
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SMB Noir 