cover art by Rafael DeSoto
better image than previously posted
T.T. Flynn, “Weather Fair – – Track Bloody (Mr. Maddox)
D.L. Champion, “Aaron Had a Rod” (Inspector Allhoff)
H.H. Stinson, “Keep ‘Em Dying”
Day Keene, “A Great Whirring of Wings”
Julius Long, “The Dead Don’t Tell”
~ Terry O.K. Burleson, “Killer Bait”, ‘Modern Western’, only story in BM
~ D.L. Champion, “A Corpse Can’t Run”, ‘Dan Morgan, private eye’, 27th of 30 stories in BM
~ Barry Cord, “Shoot If You Must”, Steve Weston, shamus, only story in BM
~ R.M.F. Joses, “Side Bet on Death”, last of 3 with ‘Hollywood private snoop Duane, 1st person narrator’, this story set in Vegas, 3rd of 4 stories in BM
~ John H. Knox, “Goodbye, Enemy”, author’s only appearance in BM
~ John D. MacDonald, “The Case of the Carved Model”, ‘Sam Dermott, police dick’, 2nd of 6 stories in BM
~ H.H. Stinson, “Murder Is a Pleasure”, ‘Sam Terry, p.i., & partner, Sol Hirshberg; LA setting’, last of 27 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 1/29/26, original art added 2/28/26]
January 1939 issue
cover art by James Lunnon
better image than previously posted
~ James Duncan, “Murder for Pennies”, last of 5 stories with The Parson, who lives on a ‘mythical’ (fictional?) isle, Cariba, reprinted in Murder for Pennies: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Parson (Steeger, 2024), last of 10 appearances in BM
~ Steve Fisher, “Jake and Jill”, ‘Honolulu setting’, 7th of 9 stories in BM
~ Jackson Gregory, “Dusty Death”, 1st of 2 stories in BM, this the only original one (see 5/1951)
~ H.W. Guernsey, “A Thousand Iron Men”, ‘iron men’ = $1 bill’, 3rd of 4 stories in BM
~ Eric Howard, “The Doc and the Dame”, last of 6 stories in BM
~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Arson”, 9th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, ‘see p. 63 for note by BHK on story’
~ H.H. Stinson, “All-American Menace”, 10th of 27 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Samuel Cherry
better image than previously posted
Peter Paige, “Twelve Dead Mice” (Cash Wale)
H.H. Stinson, “Start with Murder (Sam Fisk)
Richard Dermody, “The Doctor’s Trove” (Doc Pierce)
William R. Cox, “Vacation – With Slay” (Malachi Manatee)
Robert C. Dennis, “They’re Coming Through the Door!” (Hank O’Neill)
cover art by Samuel Cherry
better image than previously posted
Peter Paige, “A Little Corpse Who Wasn’t There”
John Whiting, “Death Sends Orchids”
H.H. Stinson, “Rancho el Maniac”
D.L. Champion, “A Hound for Murder” (Mariano Mercado)
cover art by Rafael DeSoto
~ D.L. Champion, “The Brand of Abel”, ‘desert setting’, 3rd of 30 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Jade Sanctuary”, 68th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘reader points out discrepancy in this story in Feb ’41 issue, p. 29’, 95th of 100 appearances in BM
~ Eaton K. Goldthwaite, “The Veiled Vampire”, ‘Duke Brian & Franny Steinmetz, ‘ex-felons from Philly’, now private dicks, more or less, Brian narrates’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM
~ Harvey Howard, “Red Friday”, see 2/1940 for H.F. Howard: Hagemann says ‘entirely possible HH and HFH one and the same’
~ Jim Kjelgaard, “Backfire”, ‘short-short; wilderness setting’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM
~ Stewart Sterling, “Coat of Many Killers”, 2nd of 9 stories with ‘Special Squad (safe-and-loft)’, 5th of 12 stories under this name in BM [Sterling and Stirling were pen names of Nathaniel Prentice Winchell, 20 total stories in BM]
~ H.H. Stinson, “North of the Border”, 9th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 15th of 27 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Edgar A. Whitney
better image than previously posted
~Robert Arthur, “Too Much Static”, ‘patrol cop’, 1st of 2 appearances in BM but only original story to appear
~Maurice Beam, “Ham Strung”, small-town hardware store owner, 1st-person narrator (thought to be possibly a pseud. of Robert Leslie Bellem), 4th of 7 under this name in BM
~ Wyatt Blassingame, “Some Call It Murder”, 1st with Bishop, pegged-legged political writer for a Southern newspaper, 1st of 6 in series, 2nd of 8 stories in BM
~ Peter Paige, “Voodoo Frame”, ‘Cash Wale, 1st person narrator, employee in Moonglow, an amusement park’, 3rd of 12 stories in BM
~ William B. Rainey, “The Garden of Violent Death”, ‘Philip Dumaine, New Orleans private gumshoe & Negro sidekick, Ben Bolt’, pseudonym of Wyatt Blassingame, only appearance in BM under this name
~ H.H. Stinson, “This Murder’s On Me”, ‘Van Hogan, Worldwide Agency dick, 1st -person narrator’, 13th of 27 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Death Calls the Hand”, ‘13th (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, ‘ see p. 81 for letter from RT on story’, 41st of 50 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Raphael DeSoto
better image than previously posted
~ Cleve F. Adams, “Nobody Loves Cops”, ‘Engelhardt & Dewey, Car 97, LA’, 5th of 6 stories in BM
~ W.T. Ballard, “Not in the Script”, 24th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 37th of 43 stories in BM
~ Wyatt Blassingame, “The Bishop and the Tinkling Belle”, 4th of 6 stories with The Bishop, political writer on a Southern newspaper, 60ish and peg-legged, ‘young Eddie narrates’, 6th of 8 stories in BM
~ Jim Kjelgaard, “Curse of the Beaver”, ‘again, the wilderness’, 4th of 6 stories in BM
~ H.H. Stinson, “Calling All Hearses”, 10th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 16th of 27 stories in BM
~ C.G. Tahney, [pseud of Charles Green, not to be confused with Charles M. Green], “Murder in Ten Easy Lessons”, Nickie, aka ‘Sherlock in short pants’, 2nd of 5 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by John Drew
~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Fish to Fry”, 1st of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, author’s debut in BM
~ John Onslow, “The Damned Rookie”, ‘Larry Brogan, rookie cop’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ H.H. Stinson, “Lay Off, O’Hara”, 4th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 5th of 27 stories in BM
~ MacAllister Street, “$1000 a Day”, ‘Hade, private ‘tec’, only appearance in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Murder’s Never Funny”, ‘3rd (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 25th of 50 appearances in BM
~ Donald Wandrei, “The Rod and the Staff”, ‘short-short’, 1st of 6 stories in BM
~ Cornell Woolrich, “Murder on the Night Boat”, ‘police dick on honeymoon; Sergeant James Q. Bradford’, 2nd of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
SMB Noir 