erle stanley gardner – Page 4

October 15, 1932 issue ~ cover art by Paul Stahr

October 15, 1932

cover art by Paul Stahr

better image than previously posted

February 1929 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

February 1929 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Tom Curry, “The Taste of Blood”, 16^th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1^st grade dick, ‘small-time crook develops into killer’, 27^th of 39stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Bracelets for Two”, 25th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, 38th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Black Riddle”, last 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), 39th of 51 stories in BM

~ Carl L. Martin, “Still Buzzards”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, and friends in the delta, 5th of 6 in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Brewed at Benetti’s”, 1^st of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 4th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “On the Spot”, ‘Gary Greer; 1st (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 26th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]. Reprinted in Laughing Death (Steeger Books, 2021).

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 6/4/24]

December 1930 issue ~ cover art by Arnold Lorne Hicks

December 1930

cover art by Arnold Lorne Hicks

better image than previously posted

Paul William Pickelle, “The Murder Wheel”

William H. Stueber, “The Death Dodger”

D. Reubens-Tayne, “Phoney Ice”

Paul Ernst, “The Marrone Mob”

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Muscling In”

Henry Koslowsky, “The Cop Chopper”

Robert Morton, “Smokes” (Part 3 of 3)

Frederic O. Schultze, “Third Degree Plus”

Paul Whelton, “Safe Break”

November 1929 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

November 1929 issue, Joseph T. Shaw, editor

better image than previously posted

cover painting by J.W. Schlaikjer

Frederick Nebel, “Hell-Smoke” (Capt. MacBride novelette)

Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon” (part two of the serialized novel before publication as a novel – first appearance of this section- not even mentioned on the cover)

Earl and Marion Scott, “The Second Spartan”

Carroll John Daly, “The Silver Eagle” (Race Williams novelette)

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Brass Tacks” (Ed Jenkins novelette)

Tom Curry, “The Man from Headquarters”

Henry Wallace Phillips, “The Demon in the Canyon”

The Black Bird

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Bar Nuthin’, Puzzle Buster”, ‘Western;with Bar Nuthin’ is main character’, 2^nd of 14 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hanging Friday”, 9th of 10 Bob Larkin stories, 44th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 1 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 35^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Dirty Work”, 1^st of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 2^nd of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “New Guns for Old”, 6th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, ‘MacBride in Richmond City without Kennedy’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 18 of 67 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “The Pets”, 3rd Red Saunders, 6th of 12 stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “’He’s Give the Works’” [title as Hagemann gives it], ‘Ted Bland; airplanes’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Squeeze”, Gary Greer, 8th (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 33rd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

It is no overstatement to claim that the publication of this issue of this magazine was a landmark event in American Literature.

While those involved with publishing the magazine would’ve known that they had something special on their hands with Hammett’s story, no one then could’ve understood the magnitude of the influence of it on everything that came since – the entire history and run of mystery fiction stems from this issue, and one could argue that all of Film Noir comes from this as well.

This issue of Black Mask, and this story, altered history.