ed jenkins – SMB Noir

May 1935 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

May 1935 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ William Donald Bray, “A Call for Honor”, 2nd of 4 Britt Hardsley stories, of the Carneal Construction Co., ‘man of murder and mystery’, 1^st person narrator, 9th of 12 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “A Chance to Cheat”, 60th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, 85^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Salon Piece”, 22nd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, with his wife Vivian, ‘they do not cohabitate’, 29th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “That’s Kennedy”, 30^th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.4 (Altus, 2013), 59 of 67 stories in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Keep on Asking”, ‘10th (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’, 11th of 26 stories in BM. Reprinted in South Wind: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ Roger Torrey, “Win – Place – and Show”, ‘2nd of 4 stories starring 1^st-person narrator Mike O’Dell, ex-wrestler, now bodyguard’, 15th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1939 UK edition ~ cover art J. George Janes

September 1939 UK edition

cover art J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Frank Collinson, “Death on the Prairie” [Part 2 of 2] ~ article does not appear in the US issue

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Dark Alleys”, 66th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, this one a spy story with Ngat T’oy and Soo Hoo Duck (‘Soo has a name for Jenkins – Sai Yan Pang Yeu: Man of the West Who is My Friend’)

~ Bill Gerry, “Autopsies Tell” [spelling in Hagemann], 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Headless Angel”, 11th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, this one in a swamp

~ John Lawrence, “Death to Spare”, 5^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Peter Paige, “I Guard Nudes”, ‘factual article; PP is guard at New York’s World’s Fair’, 1^st of 12 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Crime by the Forelock”, 13th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

January 1931 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

January 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Carroll John Daly, “’The Flame’ and Race Williams”, 41st of 53 with RW, last of 3 parts, ‘pub.as The Third Murderer (1931)’, reprinted in Shooting out of Turn: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.3 (Altus, 2017), 53rd of 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Diamonds of Death”, last of 6 parts in the ‘Rainbow Diamonds’ sequence that take Jo Gar from Manila to San Francisco, 15^th of 24 Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hairy Hands”, 36th of 73 with EJ, ‘The “Hairy Hands” reach for Ed Jenkins; see p. 45 for statement on ESG’s knowledge of Chinese language & people’, 53rd of 99 stories in BM

~ Paul Evan Lehman, “Lead Medicine”, Western, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Spare the Rod”, 5th of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 33 of 67 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Sky Club Affair”, ‘Alan Van Cleve, wealthy sportsman, man-about-town, 1st (of 6) segment in The Skyline Murders series; printed as separate stories rather than conventional serial’; pub. as Killer’s Carnival (1932) under pseudonym of Temple Field’, 50th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[post corrected 7/2/26]

March 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

March 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Blood on the Lens”, part 3 of 3 of Murder for Two (novel published 1943), last of 27 stories with Flashgun Casey, last of 31 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Conspiracy in Sunlight”, ‘Military Intelligence; set in WWII England’, 13^th of 20 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Incredible Mister Smith”, 72nd of 73 Ed Jenkins in Chinatown with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy, 98th of 99 stories in BM

~ Philip Ketchum, “Coffin Number Three”, ‘death of an Army officer; WWII’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Henry Norton, “Slay, Fiddle, Slay”, ‘Steve Wiacheck, Polish-American worker’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1929 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

January 1929 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~ Eustace Hale Ball, “The Old Gray Mouse”, prison setting, last of 13 stories in BM

~ S. Omar Barker, “The Way of the Westerner”, ‘Pecos McKain; modern Western’, 1^st of 4 stories in BM

~ Katherine Brocklebank, “White Talons”, 2nd of 4 with ‘Tex of Border Service in Tia Juana; Tex is a woman!’ , reprinted in White Talons: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Tex of the Border Service (Steeger, 2023), 5^th of 7 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “One Crook to Another”, 24th of 73 Ed Jenkins, 2nd of 2 parts with ‘Big Bill Delano & gang war’, 37th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Black Honeymoon”, 3rd 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), 38th of 51 stories in BM

~ Anderson McCully, “The Rajah’s Bracelet”, ‘crime involving a group of socially prominent people’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Carl L. Martin, “The Discard”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, 4th of 6 in BM

~ Marion Scott, “Poison Enters the Manse”, ‘1^st-person narrator & kidnapping’, last of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Border Buckoes”, ‘Kid Shelley, 1^st-person narrator’, 8th of 9 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1934 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

November 1934 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~ W.T. Ballard, “In Dead Man’s Alley”, 10th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 10th of 43 stories in BM

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Room Service”, last of 5 with Cleve Corby, 11^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Eyes Have It”, ‘last William’s caper [of 53 though Hagemann lists 54] in BM (wherein he had appeared ‘exclusively’), CJD not to pub. in BM until Mar 1938’, reprinted in If Death is Respectable: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.4 (Altus, 2018), 66th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hot Cash”, 59th of 73 Ed Jenkins, as Bob Sabin, 83rd of 99 stories in BM

~ Herbert Koehl, “See See Drops In”, ‘C.C. Cane, private eye, 1^st person narrator‘, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Law and Disorder”, 10th of 11 with Dal Prentice, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, title used again in April 1941 issue, not the same story, 13th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

February 1927 issue ~ cover art by Frank H. Harbaugh

February 1927 issue

cover art by Francis H. Harbaugh

better image than previously posted

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Cat-Woman”, 13th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, reprinted in Dead Men’s Letters (1990, Carroll & Graf anthology of Jenkins stories), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 22nd of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Big Knock-Over”, Continental Op [20^th of 25], see 5/1927 for sequel, “$106,000 Blood Money”, reprinted with its sequel as Blood Money (Tower, 1943), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 29th of 51 stories in BM

~ (Charles John) Cutcliffe Hyne, “Fortunes Adrift”, 4th of 8 yarns with Captain Kettle

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Stolen Rancho”, ‘border tale’, 5th of 39 stories in BM

~ Lt. Col. J.H. [John Henry] Patterson, D.S.O., “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo”, 5th of 7 serialized parts of this ex-British Army officer’s account of building a railway in Kenya, 1898-1899; book published in 1927

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Tail of the Serpent”, 12th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, ‘robbery & murder in archeological museum’, 16th of 19 appearances in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “White Murder”, 2nd of 7 Chuck Reddington story; airplanes & machineguns’, 10th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

September 1926 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

September 1926 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “T. McGuirk Catches a Crook”, ‘last of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, last of 15 stories in BM

~ Ralph Cummins, “Ace King”, Western, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Laugh That Off”, 10th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, he ‘and Helen Chadwick are engaged’, reprinted in Dead Men’s Letters (1990) Carroll & Graf anthology of Jenkins stories, 17^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Colin Martins, “Stolen Plumes”, ‘set in Florida‘, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

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

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Flying Gold”, ‘Hen’ Darrow, joy-hopping pilot’, 6th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

[a horrible image but the first I’ve ever found]

March 1925 issue

March 1925 issue

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hard As Nails”, 2nd of 73 Ed Jenkins, 5^th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Whosis Kid”, the Op [14^th of 25], reprinted in The Return of the Continental Op (Dell mapback, 1947), 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), 21st of 51 stories in BM

~ J.E. McDowell, “The True Story of the Benders”, ‘short-lived Department of Investigations; not indexed beyond this point’ [Bloody Benders of Kansas?]

~ Donald MacGregor, “The Literary Failings of Robber Bill”, 3rd of 10 stories

~ Ira D. Mullinax, “Bas Burke Keeps a Date”, Western mystery, author’s only appearance in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Treasures That Dead Men Guard”, part 2 of 3, last of 3 stories with Jack Darrow, 11th of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Clue of the Bad Check”, 38th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 39^th of 49 total articles in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Cat Mocker”, 4th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 7th of 19 appearances in BM

June 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

June 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Donald S. Aitken, “The Same Old Oil”, ‘Jack Gale, private dick’, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Paul Allenby, “Overseer of the Poor”, ‘short-short’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Tong Trouble”, 67th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Soo Hoo Duck and Ngat T’oy, 94^th of 100 appearances in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Body of Evidence”, ‘Al Hackett, Broadway squad (plainclothes), 1^st-person narrator’, reprinted in Body of Evidence: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Broadway Squad (Steeger, 2025), 6^th of 14 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Clamp Down”, 8th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 14th of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Too Many Angles”, ‘Donovan, the “hard-luck shamus”’, 45th of 50 appearances in BM