Tag: private eye

Grosset & Dunlap photoplay hardcover

Grosset & Dunlap photoplay hardcover

reissue to accompany the 1946 MGM adaptation directed by Robert Montgomery

First Photoplay Edition of Chandler’s THE LADY IN THE LAKE (1947), nicely inscribed by director and lead actor Robert Montgomery.

September 22, 2013

[post updated 2/2/25]

June 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

June 1936 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by John Drew

~ Raymond Chandler, “Goldfish”, Carmady #2 of 4, ‘see May 1936 issue, p. 127, for comment on RC’, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), reprinted in the collection Trouble is My Business (Penguin UK, 1950), The Hard-Boiled Detective, (1977), 9th of 11 stories in BM

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Fall Guy”, 17th of 27 with Flashgun Casey, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 19th of 31 stories in BM

~ M.A. Gutschow, “The Wild Rose Hermit”, ‘another in the ‘Narrowest Escape’ series, see Charles E. Cox Jr.’, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Two Tickets to Trinidad”, 26th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 33rd of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Hard to Take”, 36th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.4 (Altus, 2013), 65 of 67 stories in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Storm Signal”, ‘16th (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’, reprinted in Murder Maze: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.2 (Steeger 2022), 17th of 26 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1934 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

October 1934 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Fred Craft

~ W.T. Ballard, “Snatching Is Dynamite”, ‘Lennox & ‘The Secret Five’ of Hollywood’, 9th of 27 BM stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 9th of 43 stories in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “Finger Man”, “Finger Man”, unnamed LA PI, first person narrator, first book appearance in the collection The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin hardcover, 1950), first paperback, Trouble is My Business (Pocket, 10/51), various paperback editions, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 3rd of 11 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Immunity Murders”, 21th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, with his wife Vivian, 28th of 39 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Somebody Must Die”, last of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger,  last of 17 appearances in BM

~ Thomas Walsh, “Best Man”, ‘Carver, plain-clothesman, Homicide; reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, 4th of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1925 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

January 1925 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Frank Hepburn Crawford, “Silver Bullets”, ‘A weird, unusual tale’, only appearance in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Beyond the Law”, 1st of 73 with ‘Ed Jenkins, The Phantom Crook, 1st-person narrator; a.k.a Bob Sabin, private detective; full name Edward Gordon Jenkins; more often than not, stories take place in San Francisco’s Chinatown’, 4th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Mike or Alex or Rufus”, the Op [9th of 22], 14th of 45 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Corpse in the Woods”, 36th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Solon K. Stewart, “The Trail of the Feathered Snake”, ‘A Complete Mystery Novelette’, last of 3 appearances in BM

~ J. Paul Suter, “The Little Blonde Nightmare”, 2nd of 15 stories with The Reverend McGregor Daunt, ‘clergyman by profession and detective by choice’, 5th of 19 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

July 1932 issue ~ cover by J.W. Schlaikjer

July 1932 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

~ Guthrie Brown,“Touchstone”, Western, 2nd of 2 BM stories

~ Paul Cain, “Parlor Trick”, ‘criminal narrator’, later released as one of the Seven Slayers (1950 Avon), reprinted in The Arbor House Treasury of Detective & Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983), reprinted in The Complete Slayers (2011 Centipede Press), 5th of 17 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Amateur Murderer”, 46th of 53 with Race Williams, part 4 of 4, published as a novel in 1933, 58th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Climbing Death”, aviation plays a roll, 21st of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “New Boss”, 18th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 25th of 39 stories in BM, reprinted Sept ’50 with different title, “Patsy in Slaughterland”]

~ J.J. Des Ormeaux, “The Devil Suit”, 2nd and last ‘Jack McGuire, Federal dick, 1st-person narrator, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, 4th of 5 stories in BM (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Rough Stuff”, 45th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, 62nd of 99 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[image updated 10/27/25]

October 1929 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

October 1929 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

~ Tom Curry, “The Web”, John Flahertie, the lone wolf, Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, a secondary character. 34th of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Silver Eagle”, 32nd of 53,‘Pt. 1, Race Williams & The Flame; serial dropped after Pt.2’, 44th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Straight from the Shoulder”, 28th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Helen Chadwick and Arthur Hemington, “here & elsewhere; cf. ‘Triple Treachery’” [12/1929 issue], 45th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 2 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 36th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Hell’s Stepsons”, 2nd of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 3rd of 17 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Sal the Dude”, Gary Greer, last (9th) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 34th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta], reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow)

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

better image than previously posted