May 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

May 1946 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “The Early Corpse Gets the Worm”, 25th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 28th of 32 stories in BM

~ Harry Epstein, “The Case of the Mind-Reading Seal”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Julius Long, “Murder By the Carton”, 12th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 17th of 23 stories in BM

~ James R. McKenna, “Caliente”, short-short, horse racing, 1st person narrator, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Robert Martin, “Rat Race in Foxtown”, ‘Foxtown is 45 miles SW of Cleveland’, 1st of 8 stories in BM

~ Jim T. Pearce, “Always Leave ‘Em Dying”, author’s sold appearance in BM

~ William Rough, “My Gun Hires Legitimate”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; 3rd of 5 capers’ in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Unholy Matrimony”, 23rd of 27 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1946 UK issue

[US cover updated 1/29/26]

November 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

November 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ William E. Brandon, “It’s So Peaceful in the Country”, ‘Horse Luvnik, ex-con goes to work for academic types, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977)’, last of 7 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Kill One, Skip One” ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 5th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, reprinted in Let the Dead Alone: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Luther McGavock (Steeger, 2020), 5th of 12 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “So Red the Ruby”, ‘Privates Maguire & Caldwell on a 3-day leave in NYC’, 16th of 20 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “The Devil’s Jack-Pot”, ‘Addison Secore, criminal lawyer, is villain‘, 4th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Two Rings for Murder”, ‘Sam South, loan company proprietor, & Nazi spies’, 18th of 27 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

cover art by Rafael de Soto

November 1944 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Merle Constiner, “Killer Stay ‘Way from My Door”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 7th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, 7th of 12 stories in BM

~ Brett Halliday (pseud. of David Dresser), “A Taste for Cognac”, 1st of 2 Mike Shayne stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Blind Bogey”, 2nd of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 7th of 23 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Murder A.W.O.L.”, 8th Cellini Smith, ‘on his induction day, WWII’, 10th of 12 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

September 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

September 1946 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “The Sound of the Shot”, 26th of 28 stories with O’Hanna, ‘with movie people & Hollywood beauty contest’, 30th of 32 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “Hot-House Homicide”, ‘debut of Mortimer Jones (Jonesy), private cop, narrator, drives a Duesenberg’, 1st of 9 stories in BM

~ C.M. (Cyril) Kornbluth, “Beer-Bottle Polka”, ‘Tim Skeat, private cop, 1st person narrator, in NYC’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 1st of 2 stories in BM, both with Skeat

~ Julius Long, “This Is Murder”, 14th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 19th of 23 stories in BM

~ William Rough, “Don’t Burn Your Corpses Behind You”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; 4th of 5 capers’ in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1946 issue ~ cover art by Gloria Stoll

January 1946 issue

cover art by Gloria Stoll

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “I Ain’t Got No Body”, 23rd of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 26th of 32 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Hand Me Down My Thirty-Eight”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 9th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’ 10th of 12 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Date with Dynamite”, 9th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 14th of 23 stories in BM

~ C.G. Tahney, [pseud of Charles Green, not to be confused with Charles M. Green], “There’s Dough in Murder”, Nickie, aka ‘Sherlock in short pants’, last of 5 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

March 1946 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

March 1946 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Thorne Lee, “The Mad Dog of Lame Creek”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Julius Long, “Forgive Not Our Trespassers”, 11th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 16th of 23 stories in BM

~ Dick Pearce, “Homicide Hangover”, ‘Major Bill Boyle, just back from WWII’, only appearance in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “You’re the Crime in My Coffin”, ‘Gerry Fowler of Fox, Fox, Shapiro & Fox, law firm’, 22nd of 27 stories in BM

~ Fergus Truslow, “The Killing Was Mutuel”, ‘Private snoop Galahan around Del Mar (California)’, 3rd of 6 stories in BM

~ K. Webster, “One Fall for Murder, ‘Steve Ransom, reporter; wrestling story’, last of 3 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/29/26]

January 1947 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

January 1947 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Dale Clark, “Heavenly Homicide”, 27th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 31st of 32 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “The Cold, Cold Ground”, 2nd of 5 with Mortimer Jones, 2nd of 9 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “I Remember Murder”, 15th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ Donn Mullally, “The Corpse I Left Behind Me”, ’Martin Fowler in Hollywood’, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ William Rough, “Hot Ice”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; last of 5 capers’ in BM

~ Donegan Wiggins, “The Double-Cross”, ‘brief-brief’, author’s only appearance in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1947 UK edition

[UK cover added 5/16/25]

November 1949 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

November 1949 issue

cover art by Norman Saunders

~ Robert C. Dennis, “The 7th Pallbearer”, 5th of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 5th of 10 stories in BM

~ Graham Goulden, “Moonlight ‘n’ Murder”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ John Krill, “Make with a Wake”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Julius Long, “Her Favorite Alibi”, ‘Daring Crime-Adventure Novelette’, last of 23 appearances in BM

~ E.A. Morris, “Steal Your Own Grave”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Milton K. Ozaki, “The Corpse Didn’t Kick”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Edward van der Rhoer, “Crime Waits for No Man”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 3/1/26]