private eye – SMB Noir

February 1946 issue ~ cover art by Gloria Stoll

February 1946 issue

cover art by Gloria Stoll

~ Thomson Burtis, “Deadline for Death”, ex-USA intelligence officer, now police Lt. Greg Sullivan, last of 6 appearances in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Murder Lode”, 24th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 27th of 32 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Flowers for Flanagan”, 10th of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 15th of 23 stories in BM

~ Roland Phillips, “The Sentinel of Green Cove”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ William Rough, “Shoot If You Must”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; 2nd of 5 capers’ in BM

~ Ted Stratton, “Accounts Deceivable”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

August 1932 issue ~ cover art by William Reusswig

August 1932 issue

cover art by William Reusswig

better image than previously posted

Westmoreland Gray, “The Beast in Black (Colin Windsor)

Carroll John Daly, “Murder at Midnight” (Vee Brown)

Erle Stanley Gardner, “Forged Kill” (Dick Bentley)

Frederick Nebel, “Rogues’ Ransom” (Cardigan)

Oscar Schisgall, “The Hooded Terror” (Kent Carmiody)

Photo and profile of Gardner appeared on pgs. 123-24

May 1947 issue ~ cover art by Peter Stevens

November 1947 issue

cover art by Peter Stevens

~ D.L. Champion, “Down Payment on Death”, 24^th of 26 stories with Rex Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 26^th of 30 stories in BM

~ Bruno Fischer, “Middleman for Murder”, ‘Willie, narrator, is blackmailer, etc.’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 3^rd of 5 stories in BM

~ William Campbell Gault, “The Case of the Sleeping Beauty”, 4^th of 5 with PI Mortimer Jones, reprinted in Hot-House Homicide: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Mortimer Jones (Steeger, 2925), 5^th of 9 stories in BM

~ R.M.F. Joses, “Red Pearls”, 2nd of 3 with ‘Hollywood private snoop Duane, 1^st person narrator’, 2^nd of 4 stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Call in the Coroner”, last of 17 stories with ‘Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 22nd of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Please Kill Me Carefully”, “Ned Healey, L.A. private eye’, 25th of 27 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1948 British issue

same cover art but different content

Spill the Jackpot x 8

1941 Morrow hardcover
4th in the Bertha Cool & Donald Lam series

1946 Dell mapback

cover art by George A. Frederiksen/ mapback by Ruth Belew

1951 British Pocket paperback edition

cover art by Roland Davies

1959 Panther edition from Britain – cover art by Ley Kenton

1952. Dell reissue – cover art by Carl Bobertz

1957 Dell reissue – cover illustration by by Push-Pin Studios

April 1962 Dell reissue – cover art by Harry Bennett

1967 Dell reissue – cover art by Robert Abbett

cover art by Mitchell Hooks

cover art by Mitchell Hooks

Oil on board, 23 x 19 in., not signed

1988 Ballantine release, first US print

owner’s copy

April 1932 issue ~ cover art by William Reusswig

April 1932 issue ~ 6th issue

cover art by William Reusswig

J. Allan Dunn, “The Fire Fiend”

Carroll John Daly, “The Call to Kill” (Vee Brown)

Frederick Nebel, “Murder on the Loose” (Cardigan)

John Lawrence, “The Scarlet Comet” (Paul Bryant, PI)

Norman H. White, Jr., “Buoy of Doom” (Benton Ellwell)

profile and photo of Lawrence on pg. 122

profile and photo of White on pg. 123

Bats Fly at Night x 6

1942 Morrow hardcover

7th with private eyes Bertha Cool and Donald Lam

1948 Dell reissue – cover art by Gerald Gregg

better image than previously posed

1953 Dell reissue – cover art by Robert Stanley

cover art by Robert McGinnis

1960 Dell reissue

1963 Dell reissue – cover art by Ron Lesser

1966 Dell reissue – cover art by Robert Abbett

March 1931 issue

March 1931 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Galen C. Colin, “Wrong Font Brands”, ‘Pica Slim, tramp printer’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Murder by Mail”, 38^th of 53 with Race Williams, ‘vs. Bull Lowery’, 50th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Man in White”, 2nd of 6 parts in the ‘Rainbow Diamonds’ sequence that take Jo Gar from Manila to San Francisco, 11^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 Kill”, 1^st of 2 stories in this issue by the author, 1^st of 2 stories under this name in BM, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014),

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Junk”, 13th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy ‘fighting river pirates’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 30 of 67 Nebel stories in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “Who Knows?”, 5^th of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Derelict”, 2nd of 4-part serialization of his 1930 novel, ‘murder, romance and disaster on a deserted ocean liner’, 3rd of 9 fiction pieces in BM