J.W. Schlaikjer – Page 3

November 1930 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

November 1930 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Border Guns”, ‘Western; Johnny Hearne, Border patrolman’, 4^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Tom Curry, “The Man from Headquarters”, 20^th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1^st grade dick, 35^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Death and Company”, ‘last Op [22^nd] story and DH’s final appearance in BM’, last of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Lone Hand Tactics”, 2nd of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 20^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Rough Justice”, 1^st of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, 26 of 67 stories in BM, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow), reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus)

~ James P. Olsen, “Horror Hacienda”, ’Wolf Cazell in New Mexico’, 2nd of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Death in a Bowl”, last of 3 serialized parts, ‘Ben Jardinn, Hollywood eye, & murder in Hollywood Bowl’, ‘(originally titled The Maestro Murder)’, published in hardcover in 1931 by Knopf, 43rd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 30, 1924 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

August 30, 1924

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

October 1932 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

October 1932 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “On Two Feet”, last Bob Larkin story, 1^st since 9/1929, 64th of 99 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Wings over Texas”, 12th of 14 stories with Frost ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’ 15^th of 17 stories in BM

~ James H[enry] S[eymour] Moynahan, “Blow-Off”, ‘O’Brien, private dick’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Red Web”, 10th of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, ‘Donahue, a.k.a “The Hard Boiled One”’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 42 of 67 stories in BM

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Fugitive”, 3rd of 4 parts, ‘Jack Henderson, set in Far East, eg, Rangoon’, 8^th of 9 works of fiction in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Party from Detroit”, ‘1^st (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’, 1^st of 26 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1932 Canadian issue – same contents, clearer, sharper, more colorful image

[US image updated 10/27/25]

May 1931 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

May 1931 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ William Donald Bray, “The Man Who Cased Himself”, ‘a suspected killer joins in the hunt to catch himself’, 7^th of 12 stories in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Red Dawn”, 4^th of 6 parts in the ‘Rainbow Diamonds’ sequence that take Jo Gar from Manila to San Francisco, 13^th of 24 Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Grimes Hill (pseud. of Frederick Lewis Nebel), “The Spot and the Lady”, ‘short-short‘, 2^nd of 2 stories in this issue by the author, last of 2 stories under this name in BM, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014),

~ Horace McCoy, “Headfirst into Hell”, 9th of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger & Eddie Giles in Mexico (“Mañana land”)’, 10^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Beat the Rap”, 14th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Shakedown: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 31 of 67 stories under Nebel in BM [2^nd story in this issue, see Grimes Hill]

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Derelict”, last of 4-part serialization of his 1930 novel, ‘murder, romance and disaster on a deserted ocean liner’, 5th of 9 fiction pieces in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Soft City”, ‘Center City yarn’, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue by RFW, 47th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1931 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

September 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Carroll John Daly, “Death for Two”, 42nd of 53 with RW, Race ‘Williams pinch-hits for his friend, Sergeant O’Rourke’, reprinted in Shooting out of Turn: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.3 (Altus, 2017), 54th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Promise to Pay”, 37th of 73 Ed Jenkins, with Lui Sing Fong, patriarchal master of Chinatown, 2nd of 3 connected stories (7/1931 and 12/1931), 54th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Sound of Guns”, 16th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘set in NYC’, 22nd of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Pearls are Tears”, 6th of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 34 of 67 stories in BM

~ Stewart Stirling, (‘possible pseud. of Stewart Sterling?’), “Pushover”, 4^th of 8 stories with ‘Johnny Hi Gear, a.k.a. K-5, Undercover Agent’, ‘…& boxing fix’ [Sterling and Stirling were pen names of Nathaniel Prentice Winchell, 20 total stories in BM]. Reprinted in Boomerang Dice: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Johnny Hi Gear (Steeger Books, 2020).

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Terrace”, ‘Alan Van Cleve, wealthy sportsman, man-about-town, 2nd (of 6) segment in The Skyline Murders series; printed as separate stories rather than conventional serial’; pub. as Killer’s Carnival (1932) under pseudonym of Temple Field’, 50th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

November 1932 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

November 1932 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Jack Bertin, “Sinful Cibola”, 2^nd of 5 Chip Huard stories, 3^rd of 6 stories in BM

~ Charles E. Cox, Jr., “No Quarter”, “‘Narrowest Escape’ series, supposedly factual”, Italian Front WWI, only story in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Magician Murder”, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue by RFW, 22nd of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Honest Money”, ‘1^st appearance [of 6] of Ken Corning, honest, fighting attorney in NYC; prototype for Perry Mason’, 65th of 99 stories in BM

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Fugitive”, last of 4 parts, ‘Jack Henderson, set in Far East, eg, Rangoon’, last of 9 works of fiction in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “South Wind”, ‘2nd (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; Tracy in North Carolina; see BM, Mar 1933, p. 124 for note on story’, 2nd of 26 stories in BM, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus, 1946

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Dead Men Tell Tales”, ‘Jay Cameron, hard-boiled city editor’, 2^nd story in this issue by RW’, 59th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[image updated 10/27.25]

January 1930 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

January 1930 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Double or Quit”, 31th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘last episode in his fight with Ramsey: Arthur Hemington also around’, 48th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part last of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), 39^th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Little Black Book”, 4th of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 5^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Tough Treatment”, 8th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, ‘but not in Richmond City’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 20 of 67 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Chance Shot”, ‘Western mystery’, 4th of 8 with Red Saunders, 8th of 12 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Smoke”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 2 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, published in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 36^th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

[image updated 9/18/24]

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).

[updated 6/4/24]

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”

[image updated 9/13/24]