
1965 Penguin reissue

cover art by Fred Craft
~ Tom Curry, “The Stoolie”, 6th of 23 stories with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 10th of 39 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “Twenty Grand”, ‘Benny Slawson, “product of Delancey Street”’, 25th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Whispering Sand”, 3rd of 7 with Black Barr, 21st of 99 stories in BM
~ Westmoreland Gray, “Slayer’s Finesse”, ‘Wallace McNeel, private ‘shoe, & police captain’, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ (Charles John) Cutcliffe Hyne, “The Pilgrim Ship”, 3rd of 8 yarns with Captain Kettle
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Reformation of Ace Brand”, “border story’, 4th of 39 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Dumb Luck”, ‘Whitey Fleer, professional crook in NYC‘, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 3 of 67 stories
~ Lt. Col. J.H. [John Henry] Patterson, D.S.O., “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo”, 4th of 7 serialized parts of this ex-British Army officer’s account of building a railway in Kenya, 1898-1899; book published in 1927
~ L.R. Sherman, “The Last Cartridge”, ‘The Frozen North’, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Uneasy Money”, ‘aviation on the border; Buck, 1st person narrator’, 9th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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, 17th 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]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[a horrible image but the first I’ve ever found]

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hard As Nails”, 2nd of 73 Ed Jenkins, 5th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Whosis Kid”, the Op [14th 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, 39th 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
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Rafael DeSoto
~ Donald S. Aitken, “The Same Old Oil”, ‘Jack Gale, private dick’, 2nd 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, 94th of 100 appearances in BM
~ John Lawrence, “Body of Evidence”, ‘Al Hackett, Broadway squad (plainclothes), 1st-person narrator’, reprinted in Body of Evidence: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Broadway Squad (Steeger, 2025), 6th 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
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by H.C. Murphy
~ Russell Arden Bankson, “Underground”, ‘The detective-sheriff of the Kaniksu country’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Madeline Bartlett, “The Mutilated Masterpiece”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Gilligan and Co”, ‘Introducing a new character’, 1st of 5 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “The Red Peril”, 3rd 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) 11th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “A Fair Trial”, ‘pub. anonymously; authorship established in Hughes, Gardner, (1978), p. 312’, 1st of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Girl with the Silver Eyes”, the Op [10th of 25], referred to in BM as ‘Hammett’s San Francisco Detective’, sequel to “The House in Turk Street” (4/15/1924), issue also includes letter about the story, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 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),17th of 51 stories in BM
~ Frank Howard, Jr., “The Vernacular at the Night Court”, ‘No data’ [no explanation as to what that means], author’s only appearance in BM
~ Victor Shea, “Mr. Pentridge Comes Down to Breakfast”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Lively Corpse”, 30th of 49 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 31st of 49 total articles in BM
~ Joe Taylor, “Monty’s Last Job”, last of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, last of 13 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[terrible cover but first I’ve seen since starting this project in 2013]
[cover updated 2/16/26]

cover art by Edgar A. Whitney
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Renegade in Rio”, 4th of 7 Beeker stories, ‘see p. 31 for note on “Beek”’, 18th of 21 stories in BM
~ William E. Brandon, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, ‘actually has sympathetic black character’, 2nd of 7 stories in BM
~ Kenneth A. Fowler, “Escape”, ‘short-short’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Take It or Leave It”, ‘3rd and last Pete Wennick story’, 93rd of 100 appearances in BM
~ Frank Gruber, “The Sad Serbian”, ‘small-time con man in Chi.’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 11th of 14 stories in BM
~ Elmer E. Meadows, “Alias Mr. Fate”, ‘Jewish boy in NYC’s ghetto’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ H.H. Stinson, “You Gotta Live Right”, ‘Arizona’, 11th of 27 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by H.C. Murphy
~ Charles Hilan Craig, “The Wanderer”, Western, only story to appear in BM
~ H.B. Davenport, “Weapons”, last of 2 stories in BM
~ Donald Feak, “Emeralds!”, ‘Pirates’, last 3 stories in BM
~ Henry W. Fisher, “Executioners I Have Met”, ‘4tht of 6 ‘true’ articles with various subtitles’
~ Charles M. Green [pseud. of Erle Stanley Gardner], “The Shrieking Skeleton”, 1st of 3 stories under this name, ESG’s debut in BM
~ Thomas de V. Harper, “A Melanesian Holiday”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Francis James, “The Sand Devil”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman with Police Chief Shannon, 2nd of 4 parts, 11th of 20 appearances in BM
~ William Rollins, Jr., “The Wolf of the Du Mont Thiers”, ‘advertised as “A Strange Story of Strange People”’, 5th of 23 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Loot Ship”, 21st of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 22nd of 49 total articles in BM
~ Emmett Welsh, “The Slippery Eel”, ‘billed as “A Complete Fast-Moving Novelette”; NYC police; oddly, in 15 Nov 1923 issue (p.42) author is listed as Robert E. Welch’, author’s sole appearance in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Fred Craft
better image than previously posted
~ Tom Curry, “The Gang”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 2nd of 7, 21st of 39 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “The Egyptian Lure”, 22nd of 53 with RW,‘The Name Race Williams Stand for Service’, 31st of 71 appearances in BM
~ Bob Du Soe, “All Over a Pup”, ‘waterfront bum takes on hijackers because of a dog’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Whispering Feet”, 20th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Soo Hoo Duck & Ngat T’oy, ‘see endnote, p.73, for data on series’, 30th of 99 stories in BM
~ Henry Leverage, “The Clue Upstairs”, ‘Big Scar, yegg, just out of stir‘, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Anderson McCully, “The Masked Trail”, ‘story of the Far North’, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Bentley B. MacCay, “Bullfrogs”, ‘Louisiana tale’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Everett H. Tipton, “Killers Should Run”, ‘Western’, 3rd of 7 stories in BM
~ Wilber Wheeler [see Riblew Reelhew, Mar & May ’27], “The Trail of Sudden Death”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 2 under this name in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop