
1939 Knopf hardcover
cover art by Gerald Gregg
first novel featuring Maxfield Chauncey Hale
better image than previously posted
map by Ruth Belew


1939 Knopf hardcover
cover art by Gerald Gregg
first novel featuring Maxfield Chauncey Hale
better image than previously posted
map by Ruth Belew


1947 Knopf hardcover, this the later 1952 Dell reissue
cover art by James Meese
9th with newspaper photographer Kent Murdock
better image than previously posted

cover art by Rudolph Belarski
better image than previously posted
~ W.T. Ballard, “You Never Know About Women”, 1st of 7 with ‘Red Drake, undercover investigator for the State Racing Commission, 1st-person narrator’, 15th of 43 stories in BM
~ George Harmon Coxe, “Mr. Casey Flashgun Murder”, 14th of 27 with Flashgun Casey, 14th of 31 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Crash and Carry”, 61th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 86th of 99 stories in BM
~ Preston Grady, “Massacre”, ‘Ned price, p.i., in South Carolina, 1st-person narrator; smuggling & Chinese villain.’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Leslie T. White, “The City of Hell”, ‘four honest cops “put the Indian sign on a city of graft”’, author’s sole appearance in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 1/25/26]

cover art by Rudolph Belarski
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Hide-Out”, ‘1st G-Man Chuck Thompson story of 7; CT, Special Agent, FBI, in LA’, 6th of 21 stories in BM
~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Makes a Difference”, 2nd of 2 Jimmy DeHaven stories, 14th of 43 stories in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Nevada Gas”, Johnny DeRuse, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), first hardcover appearance The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin, 1950), then Pickup on Noon Street (Pocket, 1/52), various paperback editions 5th of 11 stories in BM
~ George Harmon Coxe, “Thirty Tickets to Win”, ‘Flashgun Casey at the race-track’, 11th of 27 Casey, 11th of 31 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Dead Men Can Talk”, last of 11 Dal Prentice capers, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, 16th of 50 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 11/9/25]

better image than previously posted
cover art by John Drew
~ Raymond Chandler, “Goldfish”, Carmady #2 of 4, ‘see May 1936 issue, p. 127, for comment on RC’, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), reprinted in the collection Trouble is My Business (Penguin UK, 1950), The Hard-Boiled Detective, (1977), 9th of 11 stories in BM
~ George Harmon Coxe, “Fall Guy”, 17th of 27 with Flashgun Casey, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 19th of 31 stories in BM
~ M.A. Gutschow, “The Wild Rose Hermit”, ‘another in the ‘Narrowest Escape’ series, see Charles E. Cox Jr.’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Two Tickets to Trinidad”, 26th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 33rd of 39 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Hard to Take”, 36th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.4 (Altus, 2013), 65 of 67 stories in BM
~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Storm Signal”, ‘16th (of 25) Jerry Tracy capers, columnist on the (NYC) Planet, ‘mixer with poor and rich, the crooked and the straight, trailer of trouble and happiness’, reprinted in Murder Maze: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.2 (Steeger 2022), 17th of 26 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 1/26/26]

Gangsters and Gun Molls #3, Avon, 1952
cover art by Perlowen
Art taken from Avon Paperback #143, entitled “Flash Casey” by George Harmon Coxe. Art credit from Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1948.

[updated 4/15/26]

originally published in Sept. 1941 issue of Black Mask Magazine as “Killers are Camera Shy”,

1948 Dell mapback, mapback by Ruth Belew
better image than previously posted
