March 1938 issue ~ cover art by Walter Baumhofer

March 1938 issue

cover art by Walter Baumhofer

better image than previously posted

Carroll John Daly, “A Corpse on the House” (Race Williams)

Raymond Chandler, “The King in Yellow” (Steve Grace, housedick) – first appearance of this story, one often reprinted

Frederick C. Davis, “Crimson Broadcast” (Keyhole Kerry)

William Edward Hayes, “Death by Enlargement”

Maxwell Hawkins, “Rx Murder”

April 1925 issue ~ cover art by A.T. Stewart

April 1925 issue

cover art by A.T. Stewart

~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Shola Al”, ‘a detective story’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ C. Chapin, “Room Rent”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Valma Clark, “A Little Matter of Chivalry”, “A Mystery of Real Life”, only appearance in BM

~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “The System of T. McGuirk”, ‘11th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 11th of 15 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Conceited, Maybe”, 7th of 53 with Race Williams, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015) 15th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Arthur Kearns, “A Born Thief”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Genevieve Neegard, “The Sandalwood Casket”, advertised as ‘a meek man drunk with blood’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ William Rollins, Jr., “Treasures That Dead Men Guard”, part 3 of 3, last of 3 stories with Jack Darrow, 12th of 23 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Grey-Green House”, 39th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 40th of 49 total articles in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

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

June 1931 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Gunhands”, Western with Bob Burney, 5th of 14 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “’The Flame’ and Race Williams”, 39th of 53 with RW, part 1 of 3, ‘pub.as The Third Murderer (1931)’, reprinted in Shooting out of Turn: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.3 (Altus, 2017), 51st of 71 appearances in BM

~ James P. Olsen, “Gunman’s Goal”, ‘Tip Wing’, last of 6 Western stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Lights Out at Benetti’s”, 5th of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, Benetti’s is a nightclub, 15th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Stewart Stirling, (‘possible pseud. of Stewart Sterling?’), “Two-Timer”, 2nd of 8 stories with ‘Johnny Hi Gear, a.k.a. K-5, Undercover Agent’ [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, “For Sale – Murder”, ‘Center City yarn, Gil Baggart, a square dick’, sequel to “Soft City” in previous issue, 49th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

 ©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

The Moving Target x 3

March 1950 Pocket paperback, first printing

cover painting by Harvey Kidder

first in the long-running and deservedly respected Lew Archer series by Kenneth Millar, aka Ross Macdonald. After using his father’s name as the pen name for this novel, he was forced by John D. MacDonald to alter it for future novels, and Ross Macdonald was born.

1959, third printing

cover art by Jerry Allison

September 18, 2013

1990 Warner edition

cover art by Gary Kelley

[updated 9/6/25 ~ all copies mine]

September 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

September 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Cleve Adams, “That Certain Feeling”, ‘Engelhardt & Dewey, Car 97, LA setting’, 2nd of 6 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Pictures for Murder”, 22nd of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 34th of 43 stories in BM

~ William E. Brandon, “Danny, Once the Rat”, ‘police-stoolie & Nazi spies’, 3rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Killer in the Wind”, 2nd of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 4th of 32 stories in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Death in the Pluperfect”, 1st of 2 stories with ‘Ace McGuire, Broadway squad, 1st-person narrator’, 7th of 14 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Dog Eat Dog”, Cellini Smith and RR’s debut, 1st of 3 parts that will be published as the novel No Love Lost in 1941, reprinted in Dead and Done For: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith (Steeger, 2020), 1st of 12 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop