francis james – SMB Noir

October 1922 issue

October 1922 issue

~ Carroll John Daly, “Dolly”, ‘1^st person narrated mood piece…see p. 65 for editorial comment on story’, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015), 1^st of 71 appearances in BM

~ David Dart, “Parker Proves His Theory”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Floating Pearls”, 2^nd of 16 stories in BM

~ Mary Browne, “Man, Woman and the Iceman”, sole appearance in BM

~ Henry W. Fisher, “The Truth About the Belgrade Assassinations”, ‘Murders of King Alexander & Queen Dragna of Serbia in 1903’, 1^st of 7 long pieces in BM

~ Jack J. Gottlieb, “Ling the Lucky”, ‘Chinese gunman Ling Yar in San Francisco’, author’s 6^th of 8 stories

~ Francis F. Gregory, “A Pile of Dust”, author’s sole story in BM

~ Francis James, “The Sand Devil”, ‘billed as “A Complete Novelette of Mystery and Action…This weird story should be ready by daylight”; debut of Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist, turned policeman’, 1^st of 20 appearances in BM

~ Murray Leinster (pseud. of Will F. Jenkins), “The Wallet That Weighed Too Much”, 5^th of 7 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “A Gold-Digger’s Man” and “Half Across the World”, 3rd and 4th of 20 stories in BM

~ Howard P. Rockey, “False Witness”, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Robert Russell, “Suspiciously Good Behavior”, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ Robert E(mmett) Sherwood, “Film Thrillers”, film-review series, short –lived department, not indexed beyond this issue

~ Ward Sterling, “The Concrete Facts About Thomas Hancock”, last of 16 stories under this name in BM [44th of 46 stories in BM under three different names – Harold Ward and H.W. Starr]

~ J. Ainsworth Wood, “Beyond”, ‘brief-brief’, author’s only appearance in BM

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September 1935 issue ~ cover art by Walter Baumhofer

September 1935 issue

cover art by Walter Baumhofer

better image than previously posted

April 1, 1923 issue

April 1, 1923 issue

~ Eustace Hale Ball, “The Trail of the Scarlet Fox”, last of 6 parts with various subtitles, 6th of 13 appearances in BM

~ Raymond J. Brown, “Phantom Bullets”, part 1 of 5, only work in BM

~ Robert Clay, “The Man Who Hated Worms”, author’ only appearance in BM

~ David Dart, “The Held Up Hold-Up”, 2^nd and last story in BM

~ Arthur Floyd Henderson, “A Matter of Gallantry”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Francis James, “Spark of Death”, Prentice [(?) Hagemann includes question mark], 7th of 20 appearances in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Schuydenehome”, 1st of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “By Wire”, 5th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 5^th of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor and G[eorge] W. Sutton, Jr., “Burnt Hands”, part 1 of 2, ‘GWS was then editor of BM’, 1^st of 2 appearances by this team in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1924 UK issue ~ cover art by L.L. Balcom

September 1924 UK issue

cover art by L.L. Balcom

most contents the same as US Sept. 1924

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “The Dragon Fly”, 14th of 29 stories in BM [US Jan.’23]

~ Royce Brier, “Black and Blue”, ‘set in Mexico’, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Accommodatin’ a Lady”, 1^st of 10 Bob Larkin stories, 1^st person narrator, author’s first appearance in BM under this name (see June, 1924), 2^nd of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Women, Politics and Murder”, the Op [11^th of 25], 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), 18^th of 51 stories in BM

~ Francis James, “The Long Hand of Middleton”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman, 16th of 20 appearances in BM

~ Jud Pierce, “Sunrise”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Ray Raymond, “The Curse of the Long Tooth”, ‘South Seas mystery’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Rough Diamond”, 33rd of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 34th of 49 total articles in BM

~ George A. Wright, “The Mountain Comes to Mohammad”, author’s only appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1924 issue

December 1924 issue

~ Thomas Ewing Dabney, “The Drug of Ullua”, ‘Hard-Boiled Smith in Latin America’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Without No Reindeer”, 2^nd of 10 Bob Larkin stories, 3^rd of 99 stories in BM

~ Robert Lee Heiser, “The Norris Case”, ‘The Manhunters, for this series see chiefly under Charles Somerville’

~ Francis James, “The Green Enigma”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman with Police Chief Shannon, 2nd of 2 parts, issue also includes letter from the author with a small photo, 18th of 20 appearances in BM

~ Donald MacGregor, “The One-Dollar Bandit”, 2nd of 10 stories

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Dead Men of the Marshes”, 2nd of 3 stories with Jack Darrow, 16-year-old hero, ‘double murder’, 9th of 23 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/3/26]

February 1940 issue ~ cover art by John Howitt

February 1940 – first of just two issues

cover art by John Howitt

October 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

October 1927 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ William Donald Bray, “The Trap”, ‘Western; Deputy Lee Tyndall’, 3^rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “Murder Chains”, part 2 of 2, ‘gangster yarn; John Furnel, alias The Grand Street Kid’, 17^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Francis James, “The Steele Avenger”, ‘Timothy O’Toole, bodyguard to Peter Holt’, only appearance of this character in BM, last of 20 appearances in BM

~ W.H.B. Kent, “The Killer”, 1^st of 6 Westerns with Killer Blake, deputy sheriff & agent of the Stock Association

~ Murray Leinster (pseud. of Will F. Jenkins), “The Ending of El Jefe”, ‘Western bandits’; last of 7 appearances in BM’

~ Marion Scott, “Folded Evidence”, ‘Brent, detective from HQ, NYPD’, 1st of 3 by herself, 17 stories with Earl Scott in BM as a couple

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Man on the Bus”, 14th of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 18th of 19 appearances in BM

~ Merle Thomas, “The Lettered Telegraph”, ‘RR holdup & telegraph operator’s daring’, sole appearance in BM

~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Rebellious Egg”, ‘Crookedness & RR-building’, 6th of 9 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Sixty Minutes”, ‘Buck, who flies a Jenny, 1^st person narrator, & Sam Ellis’, 15th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1, 1923 issue ~ cover art by L.L. Balcom

December 1, 1923 issue

cover art by L.L. Balcom

~ Eustace Hale Ball,“When 7539 Went Black”, ‘7539 is a convict’, 10^th of 13 stories in BM

~ Henry W. Fisher, “Executioners I Have Met”, ‘3rd^t of 6 ‘true’ articles with various subtitles’

~ Francis James, “The Sand Devil”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman with Police Chief Shannon, 1^st of 4 parts, 10th of 20 appearances in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Bodies Pile Up”, Continental Op, 4th of 25, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow), reprinted in Nightmare Town as “House Dick” (Knopf, 1999), 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), 8th of 51 stories in BM

~ Fred McLaughlin, “The White Streak”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Harold Freeman Miners, “Oscar the Terrible”, 1^st of 4 with ‘Topanga John, ancient desert rat’, 1^st of 5 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “One Dried Head”, last of 3 parts, South Seas, 13th of 20 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Vultures’ Trail”, 20th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Willett Stockard, “Punctual”, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Emmet 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’, sole appearance in BM

December 1937 issue

December 1937

cover art attributed to Tom Lovell

John H. Knox, “Brides for Satan’s Pupils”

Francis James, “Merry Christmas from the Dead!“

Arthur Leo Zagat, “Soft Blows the Breeze from Hell!”

Russell Gray, “Death Sends His Manikins”

Henry Treat Sperry, “The Cat and the Corpse”

John Kobler, “Lust of the Jaguar Queen” (Peter Quest)

better image than previously posted

March 1937 issue ~ cover art by Tom Lovell

March 1937

cover art by Tom Lovell

Frederick C. Davis, “When the Bat Man Thirsts”

Wyatt Blassingame, “The Art That Is Learned in Hell”

G. T. Fleming-Roberts, “Mistress of the Murder Machine”

William Hines, “Death’s Warm Lips”

Paul Ernst, “The Monster Who Worked in Clay”

Francis James, “The Beauty Shop Horrors”

Roger Howard Norton, “Child’s Garden of Terror”

better image than previously posted