private eye – SMB Noir

March 1928 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

March 1928 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The Gang”, DeVrite, NYPD undercover ‘secret agent’, 2nd of 7, 21st of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Egyptian Lure”, 22^nd of 53 with RW,‘The Name Race Williams Stand for Service’, 31st of 71 appearances in BM

~ Bob Du Soe, “All Over a Pup”, ‘waterfront bum takes on hijackers because of a dog’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Whispering Feet”, 20th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Soo Hoo Duck & Ngat T’oy, ‘see endnote, p.73, for data on series’, 30th of 99 stories in BM

~ Henry Leverage, “The Clue Upstairs”, ‘Big Scar, yegg, just out of stir‘, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Anderson McCully, “The Masked Trail”, ‘story of the Far North’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Bentley B. MacCay, “Bullfrogs”, ‘Louisiana tale’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “Killers Should Run”, ‘Western’, 3^rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Wilber Wheeler [see Riblew Reelhew, Mar & May ’27], “The Trail of Sudden Death”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 2 under this name in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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

June 1932 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Thomson Burtis, “They Don’t Shake Hands in Arkansas”, ‘Slats Kirke in Detroit’, 4^th of 6 appearances in BM

~ Paul Cain, “Velvet”, ‘Kells & Granquist; part 3 of Fast One’, reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), Black Mask: The Complete Stories (2013 Mysterious Press), Lead Party: The Complete Fiction Works of Paul Cain (Steeger, 2024), 4^th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 45^th of 53 with Race Williams, part 3 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, reprinted in If Death is Respectable: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.4 (Altus, 2018), 57th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Reform Racket”, ‘Dan Stiles; one-time gunman’, 1^st of 13 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Cooking Crooks”, 44th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, ‘with Norma Gay’, 61st of 99 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “The Golden Rule”, 11th of 14 Frost stories ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in Headfirst into Hell: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Front, Vol. 2 (Steeger, 2025), 13^h of 17 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “A Touch of Nature”, Western mystery, last of 8 with Red Saunders who ‘fights a “wild man in kilts”’, last of 12 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Spring 1947 issue

Spring 1947

January 1933 issue ~ cover art by William Reusswig

January 1933 issue

cover art by William Reusswig

better image than previously posted

Oscar Schisgall, “Claws of the Condor” (Trent & Cadwell)

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Framed in Guilt” (Dane Skarle)

Frederick Nebel, “The Murder Cure” (Cardigan)

Maxwell Hawkins, “Death Tunes In” (Det. Fitzgerald)

H.M. Appel, “The Body in the Crypt”

photos of Hawkins and Appel appear on pgs. 121-22

March 1932 issue ~ cover art William Reusswig

March 1932, issue #5

cover art by William Reusswig

better image than previously posted

Oscar Schisgall, “The Death Scream”

Edward Parrish Ware, “The Skull of Judgment” (Det. Tug Norton)

J. Allan Dunn, “Out of the Night”

Frederick Nebel, “Phantom Fingers” (Cardigan)

Carroll John Daly, “The Curtain of Frost” (Vee Brown)

Maxwell Hawkins, “Murder Digs Its Grave”

May 15, 1923 issue ~ cover art by A. Rose

May 15, 1923 issue

cover art by A. Rose

better image than previously posted

~ Raymond J. Brown, “Phantom Bullets”, part 4 of 5, only work in BM

~ Jack Carlton, “Four Shots”, ‘cemetery tale’, 1of 2 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Three Gun Terry”, 1^st of 2 with PI Terry Mack, 4th of 71 appearances in BM, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow). Reprinted in The Man in the Shadows: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Terry Mack (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ Carl Glick, “In the Grey Dawn”, 2^nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles T. Jordan, “A Matter of Postage”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “In Mutiny”, ‘A weird thing’, 7th of 20 stories in BM

~ Robert Russell, “The Snake”, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Clue in the Turf”, ‘“Honest John” Brunen, murder victim & Ellis Parker, detective’, 8th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 8^th of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “Ragged Seams”, 8th of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, 9^th of 13^th appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

March 1936 issue

March 1936 issue

cover art attributed Malvin Singer, Walter Baumhofer, or Tom Lovell?

better image than previously posted

Leslie T. White, “Matches in Hell” (Tod Naughton, arson dick)

Frederick Nebel, “The Sign of Murder” (Cardigan)

Frederick C. Davis, “The Case of the Silent Giantess” (Carter Cole, MD)

John Lawrence, “The Dope in the Death House (Colin Barr)

William E. Barrett, “The Blue Barrel” (Dean Culver, underworld gossip columnist)

August 15, 1934 issue ~ cover art by John Newton Howitt

August 15, 1934 issue

cover art by John Newton Howitt

better image than previously posted

Frederick Nebel, “Not So Tough” (Cardigan)

Fred MacIsaac, “Murder Reel” (Rambler Murphy)

J. Paul Suter, “Dead and Buried” (Horatio Humberton)

John Lawrence, “Guilty Party” (Cass Blue)

Edward S. Williams, “Seven Days Missing” (Det. Vance)

Dwight V. Babcock, “Pearls Without Publicity” (Kirk Daniels & Marcia Winters)

Anson Hatch, “Phantom Footsteps (Det. Larry Gilden)

March 1945 issue ~ cover art by Gloria Stoll

March 1945 issue

cover art by Gloria Stoll

~ D.L. Champion, “Dead As in Blonde”, 17^th of 26 with Rex Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 19^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Murder Had a Little Lamb”, 20th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 23rd of 32 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Until the Undertaker Comes”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 8th 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), 8^th of 12 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Goon My Way?”, 4th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 9th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Get Your Own Corpse”, 12th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 19th of 27 stories in BM

August 12, 2015

December 1938 issue ~ cover art by John Fleming Gould

December 1938 issue

cover art by John Fleming Gould

better image than previously posted

Carroll John Daly, “The Quick and the Dead” (Race Williams)

Frederick C. Davis, “The Ghoul Hangs High” (Keyhole Kerry)

D.L. Champion, “Lock the Death House Door!”

O.B. Myers, “Don’t Bet on Ghosts” (Doc Kincaid)

Mark Harper, “Frame for a Fall-Guy”