cover art by Ann Cantor
Art taken from paperback Murder Mystery Monthly #47 (1949), titled “The Blonde, The Gangster and the Private Eye” by Dale Clark.
pseudonym of Ronal Kayser
1946 Messner hardcover as The Red Rods
1949 Avon release with new title
cover art by John Drew
better image than previously posted
~ W.T. Ballard, “After Breakfast”, 2nd of 7 with ‘Red Drake, undercover investigator for the State Racing Commission, 1st-person narrator’, 16th of 43 stories in BM
~ Eugene Cunningham, “Tough People”, 1st of 2 with Det. Sgt. Bob Land, border patrol, 13th of 14 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Above the Law”, 62th Ed Jenkins, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 87th of 99 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Man from Monaco”, 23rd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 30th of 39 stories in BM
~ Eric Taylor, “Red Death”, ‘Gene Terry, detective, Metropolitan Agency’, 5th of 7 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
better image (by a little) than previously posted
cover art by H.C. Murphy
~ Ray(mond) King, “T. McGuirk Lends a Helping Hand”, ‘13th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 13th of 15 stories in BM
~ Joseph Gollomb, “The Man Who Stole a Palace”, ‘study of Parisian police methods’, 2nd of 6 articles
~ Glenn G. Gravatt, “The Million Dollar Robbery”, ‘The Manhunters; for this series, see chiefly under Charles Somerville,’ author’s only appearance in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Corkscrew”, ‘The Op [12th of 22] in Arizona, billed as ‘A Western Detective Novelette’, reprinted in As Tough as They Come (Perma, 1951), 17th of 45 stories in BM
~ William La Varre, “The Golden Head”, ‘A Daytime Story’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Ralph E. Mooney, “Outside the World”, ‘attempted murder of an editor’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ L. King Tichenor, “A Just Price”, ‘The Senator’ [no other explanation], 4th of 5 stories in BM
~ Henry S. Whitehead, “The Gladstone Bag”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Valleau Wilkie, “The White Elephant”, ‘Billed as “A Last Minute Mystery”’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Jack Woodford, “Blank Fingers”, ‘article; fingerprints; cf. under John Nicholas Beffel’, May 1925 issue
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by John Fleming Gould
“It’s the McCoy” (Paul Pine) by Erle Stanley Gardner
“The Fugitive Skeleton” (Keyhole Kerry) by Frederick C. Davis
“The Judas Touch” (Acme Indemnity Op) by Jan Dana
“The Lady in the Lake” (John Dalmas) by Raymond Chandler
“One for the Book” by Walter C. Brown
better image than previously posted
adapted from the 1935 Rex Stout novel of the same name
2nd in the long-running and outstanding series with Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin
cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer
better image than previously posted
~ Paul Cain, “Red 71”, ‘Dick Shane on the fringes of the Underworld; “71” is NYPD code for gambling-joint’, reprinted in, The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946), and later released as one of the Seven Slayers (1950 Avon), reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), 8th of 17 stories in BM
~ L.W. Claflin, “Thunder in the Darkness”, ‘Joe Stannard & road construction gang’, only appearance in BM
~ Eugene Cunningham, “Passing Through”, 1st of 2 Westerns with Pony Kerr, 6th of 14 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “Merger with Death”, 47th of 53 with Race Williams, 59th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Top Comes Off”, 2nd of 6 stories with attorney Ken Corning, ‘fighting young lawyer’, 66th of 99 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Red Pavement”, 11th of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in The Arbor House Treasury of Detective & Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983), reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 43 of 67 stories in BM
~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Fugitive”, last of 4 parts, “Jack Henderson, set in Far East, e.g., Rangoon”, Shaw’s last appearance of fiction in BM
~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Park Avenue Item”, ‘3rd (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’, 3rd of 26 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[image updated 12/27/25]
February 1960, first US appearance of Chandler’s “Wrong Pigeon”, published posthumously. First publication of the full text. An abridged version had been serialized in the Perth Daily News during May, 1959 as “Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate”. In September of 1965, it was published in Argosy magazine with the title “The Pencil”. It would be published again with that title in the 1988 Doubleday hardcover Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: A Centennial Celebration
“The ‘Mob’ had a grudge against Marlowe…and thy were out to kill two pigeons with one stone.”
cover art by H.L. Parkhurst
better image than previously posted
cover altered/updated for May 1939 issue of Private Detective Stories
SMB Noir 