cover art by John Newton Howitt
better image than previously posted
Frederick Nebel, “Not So Tough” (Cardigan)
Fred MacIsaac, “Murder Reel” (Rambler Murphy)
J. Paul Suter, “Dead and Buried” (Horatio Humberton)
John Lawrence, “Guilty Party” (Cass Blue)
Edward S. Williams, “Seven Days Missing” (Det. Vance)
Dwight V. Babcock, “Pearls Without Publicity” (Kirk Daniels & Marcia Winters)
Anson Hatch, “Phantom Footsteps (Det. Larry Gilden)
1946 Avon original
Murder Mystery Monthly digest softcover
second of three novels with Hannah Van Doren
Babcock, Dwight V. THE GORGEOUS GHOUL. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. Octavo, cloth. First edition. The second of Babcock’s three mystery novels, all of which featured crime journalist Hannah Van Doren. Babcock was a prolific contributor to the pulps, especially BLACK MASK, and later a Hollywood script writer. A fine copy in very good dust jacket with light wear to corners and spine ends and some age-darkening to spine panel and along flap folds.
cover art by James Lunnon
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Careless Killer”, 3rd of 7 Beeker stories, 17th of 21 stories in BM
~ Allen Beck, “Long Live the Dead”, ‘magician’, only story in BM
~ Hugh B. Cave, “Smoke in Your Eyes”, ‘unusually well-plotted’, 5th of 9 stories in BM
~ Frederick C. Davis, “Stop the Presses”, 2nd with reporter Murray Gifford, ‘see p. 51 for data on how FCD writes’, 6th of 16 stories in BM
~ M.P. Hall, “Ad Lib”, ‘short-short, radio broadcasting’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Concealed Weapon”, ‘10 (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 37th of 50 appearances in BM
~ Donald Wandrei, “Come Clean”, last of 6 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Raymond S. Pease
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “The Widow Regrets”, 1st of 7 Beeker (“Beek”) stories, 15th of 21 stories in BM
~ Thomas W. Duncan, “The Cat and the Corpse”, ‘Dan Macey’, author’s only story in BM
~ Steve Fisher, “No Gentleman Strangles His Wife”, ‘Kip I. Muldane, p.i. in Hawaiian’, 2nd of 9 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Blood in the Fog”, 31st of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘Black Burton in London’, 38th of 39 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Relative Trouble”, ‘Shean Connell, private peep; last of 4 SC stories’, 32nd of 50 appearances in BM
~ Cornell Woolrich, “After-Dinner Story”, 9th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[updated 1/26/26]
1941 Knopf hardcover, 1945 Avon reissue
cover art by Paul Stahr
published by Hale in the UK as Murder for Hannah
better image than previously posted
1943 Avon Murder Mystery Monthly digest
cover art by William Frost (William Forrest)
1941 Knopf hardcover, first edition
“The second appearance of the character Hanna Van Doren, considered the first female hard-boiled detective in American literature.”
cover art by James Lunnon
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Murder in the Family”, 2nd of 7, ‘Beeker in the San Joaquin Valley’, 16th of 21 stories in BM
~ Hal Murray Bonnett, “Dynamite Deal”, author’s only appearance in BM [who signed the cover]
~ Gregor Endell, “Murder Suspected”, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Muscle Out”, 65th of 73 Ed Jenkins with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy, 92nd of 100 appearances stories in BM
~ Frank Gruber, “No Motive”, 6th of 14 stories in BM
~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “No More Limericks”, ‘21st (of 25) Jerry Tracy capers, columnist on the (NYC) Planet, ‘mixer with poor and rich, the crooked and the straight, trailer of trouble and happiness’, reprinted in Station K-I-L-L: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.3 (Steeger, 2024), 22nd of 26 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[updated 1/26/26]
cover art by Rudolph Belarski
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Hide-Out”, ‘1st G-Man Chuck Thompson story of 7; CT, Special Agent, FBI, in LA’, 6th of 21 stories in BM
~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Makes a Difference”, 2nd of 2 Jimmy DeHaven stories, 14th of 43 stories in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Nevada Gas”, Johnny DeRuse, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), first hardcover appearance The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin, 1950), then Pickup on Noon Street (Pocket, 1/52), various paperback editions 5th of 11 stories in BM
~ George Harmon Coxe, “Thirty Tickets to Win”, ‘Flashgun Casey at the race-track’, 11th of 27 Casey, 11th of 31 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Dead Men Can Talk”, last of 11 Dal Prentice capers, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, 16th of 50 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 11/9/25]
December 1939 issue
cover art by Edgar A. Whitney
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Blood in the Snow”, Beeker (7th and last Beeker story), DVB’s 21st and last BM story
~ William R. Cox, “Accounting in Blood”, CCC bookkeeper, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Bayard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Clear As Crystal”, 12th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida
~ Peter Paige, “Swastika Scourge”, ’Nazi spies on the high seas; see p. 111 for letter from PP’, 2nd of 12 stories in BM
~ Stewart Sterling (pseud. of Prentice Winchell), “Straight Across the Board”, last of 3 stories with Vince Mallie, ‘at the races’, 3rd of 12 stories
~ Cornell Woolrich, “Through a Dead Man’s Eye”, ‘boy vs. murderer’, 15th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
SMB Noir 