May 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

May 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The System”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 4th of 7, subtitled ‘The Receiver’, 23rd of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Law of Silence”, ‘pt. 2 Crime story (subtitled “The Show-Down”) with Charlie, 1st -person narrator’

~ Carroll John Daly, “Wrong Street”, 2nd story in the issue, last Satan Hall story in BM, 33rd and 34th appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Out of the Shadows”, 22nd of 73 with Ed Jenkins, in Chinatown with Soo Hoo Duck, Ngat T’oy and Helen Chadwick, 32nd of 99 stories in BM

~ W.H.B. Kent, “The Killer Finds a Horseshoe”, 3rd of 6 Westerns with Killer Blake, deputy sheriff & agent of the Stock Association

~ Henry Leverage, “The Gopher”, “Tony Fishera, alias ‘The Crawler, aka ‘The Gopher’ – gangster”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Marion Scott, “Fools Rush In”, ‘Steve Burke, tenderfoot lumberjack, 1st-person narrator’, 2nd of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple

~ Everett H. Tipton, “Hunted”, ‘Western’, 5th of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Black Murder”, ‘Verner, Federal man, & greyhound racing; Black Murder = dog’, 20th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

~ Clee Woods, “Hoofprints of Law”, ‘Western; subtitled, “A Neck in a Noose”’, author’s sole appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

April 1933 issue ~ cover art by William Reusswig

April 1933 issue

cover art by William Reusswig

better image than previously posted

T.T. Flynn, “Five Doomed Men” (Larry Davenport)

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Death’s Doorway” (Phil ‘Go Get ‘Em’ Garver)

Frederick Nebel, “Heir to Murder” (Cardigan)

Fred MacIsaac, “Alias Mr. Smith” (Rambler Murphy)

May 1937 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

May 1927 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

better image than previously posted

~ J. Edgar Ambler, “The Buzzard”, ‘The Buzzard & the Cracker, criminals’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Tom Curry, “The Stick-Up Club”, 8th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 13th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “In Full Account”, 16th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, last of 3 with ‘The Girl with the Mole’, reprinted in Dead Men’s Letters (1990, Carroll & Graf anthology of Jenkins stories), 25th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “$106,000 Blood Money” Continental Op [21st of 25], sequel to “The Big Knock-Over”, in the 2/1927 issue, reprinted with its prequel as Blood Money (Tower, 1943), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 30th of 51 stories in BM

~ (Charles John) Cutcliffe Hyne, “The Liner and the Iceberg”, 7th of 8 yarns with Captain Kettle

~ Don Livingston, “No Grandstand Play”, Western, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Riblew Reelhew, “Eyes of the Night”, ‘Dandy Dan, nimble & nimble-witted crook’, 2nd of 2 stories under this pseudonym, an anagram of Wilber Wheeler

~ Victor Shaw, “For a Girl Like That”, ‘Western detective’, 1st of 5 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “South of Savannah”, 4th of 7 Chuck Reddington story; airplanes & machineguns’, 12th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1929 issue x 2

December 1929 issue #1

December 1929 issue #2

both better images than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Triple Treachery”, 30th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, in LA, 2nd half of story with Ramsey, from previous issue, 47th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 4 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 38th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Renegades of the Rio”, 3rd of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 4th of 17 stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “Saving the Double-Cross”, 4th of 5 stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Craleigh Comes to Life”, 2nd of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 10th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ L.R. Sherman, “Reading Sign on the Sagebrush Kid”, Western, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Outside”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 1 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, pub. in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 35th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

The Case of the Sunbather’s Diary x 7

1955 Morrow hardcover / 50th Perry Mason novel

1958 Cardinal reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks

Heinemann released the UK hardcover in 1961

1963 Pan reissue – cover art by Harry Sheldon

better image than previously posted

1963 Pocket reissue – cover art by Robert McGinnis

1970s Mayflower edition from the UK

1978 Pocket reissue

2000 Ballantine reissue

The Case of the Smoking Chimney x 5

1943  Morrow hardcover

1950 Pocket reissue

2nd book with Gramps Wiggins

cover art by Wayne Blickenstaff

1961 Pocket reissue – cover art by Charles Binger

better image than previously posted

1963 Horwitz edition from Australia

1963 British edition from Penguin

cover art by Sheila Perry

April 1933 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

April 1933 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Chinatown Murder”, 49th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘Chinese frequently spoken’, 70th of 99 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Farewell to Crime”, 21st of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Too Young to Die: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.3 (Altus, 2013), 46 of 67 stories in BM

~ Norvell Page, “Black Harvest”, ‘last of 3 Jules Tremaine stories; Manhattan and Little Italy; (ed. note) a projected & potentially important series that never developed’ [Hagemann doesn’t explain his editor’s note], only these 3 stories in BM. Reprinted in Black Harvest: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jules Tremaine (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ William Rollins, Jr., “K.O. and the Killers”, 3rd of 4 stories with ‘Kenneth Osborne from ‘No’th Cah’lina’; 1st person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Give the Man Rope”, 1st of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, debut and 1st of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “The Case-Hardened Samaritan”, 2nd of 11 with Dal Prentice, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, ‘Prentice – “hard when it comes to handling killers”, reprinted in The Case-Hardened Samaritan: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Dal Prentice, Vol. 1, 3rd of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop