October 15, 1923 issue ~ cover art by Lewis Kennerly

October 15, 1923 issue

cover art by Lewis Kennerly

better image than previously posted

~ Edwin Baird, “Keep it Dark” short-short, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Eustace Hale Ball, “Little Miss Muffet – 1923”, 9th of 13 stories in BM

~ Royce Brier, “The Thirteenth Tack”, ‘Spider Klein, criminal’, 2nd of 5 stories in BM

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “T. McGuirk Tries the Luck Charms”, ‘7th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 7th of 15 stories in BM

~ Drayton Dunster, “Aided and Abetted by the Law”, 8th of 9 stories in BM

~ ‘Peter Collinson’ (Hammett), “Slippery Fingers”, 1st story in this issue, ‘see p. 127 for letter by DH & discussion of story’, last of 4 stories under this name in BM, though Hagemann doesn’t note it, 2nd of 25 Op stories reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), reprinted in Zigzags of Treachery: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, Vol. 1 (Steeger, 2023), though Hagemann does not list this as an Op story, 4th of 51 total stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Crooked Souls”, the Op [3rd of 25], 2nd of 2 stories in this issue but 5th of 51 total stories in BM, reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), reprinted in Zigzags of Treachery: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, Vol. 1 (Steeger, 2023)

~ Robert Lee Heiser, “Fifty Dollars a Peep”, ‘alleged to be true’

~ Jones Jones, “The Talented Burglar”, author’s sole appearance in BM [hard to believe that name is correct]

~ J. Fortune Reade, “At the Bottom of It”, ‘A Strange Detective Problem’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Riddle of Room 14”, 17th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 18th of 49 total articles in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “Beyond Justice”, ‘daytime story’, 2nd of 19 appearances in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “The Doublecross”, 10th of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, 11th of 13th appearances in BM

~ Merlin Moore Taylor, “The Young Squirt”, ‘advertised as “A Complete Mystery Novelette”’, 4th of 8 appearances in BM

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Snitch”, 1st of 9 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 1, 1923 issue

August 1, 1923 issue

cover art by Jules Erbit?

better image than previously posted

~ John Baer, “A Wholesaler in Crime”, ‘compete mystery novelette’, his last of 24 stories in BM

~ Edwin Baird, “This Way Out”, short-short, 1st of 3 stories in BM

~ Peter Chance, “The Scarlet Scalpel”, only appearance in BM

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “T. McGuirk – Detective”, ‘5th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 5th of 15 stories in BM

~ Arthur Fetter, “The Treachery of Spike McGuire”, ‘A Queer Glimpse of the Underworld’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Henry W. Fisher, “Odd Bits”, ‘short-lived feature; not indexed past this point’

~ Geoffrey Foster, “Bedlam”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Kenneth Fuessle, “Superstition”, ‘Adventure in Weird Surroundings’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ K. Godwin, “Conscience”, ‘Billed as BM’s “first one-act play”’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Robert Lee Heiser, “The World’s Greatest Mystery”, ‘true account of the murder of Clare Stone, a child, in Baltimore; would occupy readers for some time; not indexed beyond this point’

~ William Rollins, Jr., “A Song of India”, ‘billed as an ‘Oriental adventure in a small town’, 3rd of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Camp Dix Mystery”, 12th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 13th of 49 total articles in BM

~ Merlin Moore Taylor, “One of Five”, part 1 of 2, 2nd of 8 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop