January 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

January 1927 issue

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The Stoolie”, 6th of 23 stories with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 10th of 39 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Twenty Grand”, ‘Benny Slawson, “product of Delancey Street”’, 25th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Whispering Sand”, 3rd of 7 with Black Barr, 21st of 99 stories in BM

~ Westmoreland Gray, “Slayer’s Finesse”, ‘Wallace McNeel, private ‘shoe, & police captain’, 1st of 3 stories in BM

~ (Charles John) Cutcliffe Hyne, “The Pilgrim Ship”, 3rd of 8 yarns with Captain Kettle

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Reformation of Ace Brand”, “border story’, 4th of 39 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Dumb Luck”, ‘Whitey Fleer, professional crook in NYC‘, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 3 of 67 stories

~ Lt. Col. J.H. [John Henry] Patterson, D.S.O., “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo”, 4th of 7 serialized parts of this ex-British Army officer’s account of building a railway in Kenya, 1898-1899; book published in 1927

~ L.R. Sherman, “The Last Cartridge”, ‘The Frozen North’, 1st of 3 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Uneasy Money”, ‘aviation on the border; Buck, 1st person narrator’, 9th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

June 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

June 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Donald S. Aitken, “The Same Old Oil”, ‘Jack Gale, private dick’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Paul Allenby, “Overseer of the Poor”, ‘short-short’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Tong Trouble”, 67th of 73 with Ed Jenkins, with Soo Hoo Duck and Ngat T’oy, 94th of 100 appearances in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Body of Evidence”, ‘Al Hackett, Broadway squad (plainclothes), 1st-person narrator’, reprinted in Body of Evidence: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Broadway Squad (Steeger, 2025), 6th of 14 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Clamp Down”, 8th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 14th of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Too Many Angles”, ‘Donovan, the “hard-luck shamus”’, 45th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

October 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

Frederick C. Davis, “Clinic for Corpses” (Bill Brent)

Norbert Davis, “Charity Begins at Homicide” (Max Latin)

C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Beef to the Heels” (Colonel Kaspir)

H.S.M. Kemp, “Between 11:00 and 11:15”

G.T. Fleming-Roberts, “There’s One in Every Graveyard”

Richard Dermody, “Painless Operation”

1957 Gold Medal paperback original – cover art by John Floherty Jr

1957 Gold Medal paperback original

cover art by John Floherty Jr.

7th novel and 7th with NYC private eye Ed Noon

better image than previously posted

June 1924 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

June 1924 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Russell Arden Bankson, “Underground”, ‘The detective-sheriff of the Kaniksu country’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Madeline Bartlett, “The Mutilated Masterpiece”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Gilligan and Co”, ‘Introducing a new character’, 1st of 5 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Red Peril”, 3rd 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) 11th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “A Fair Trial”, ‘pub. anonymously; authorship established in Hughes, Gardner, (1978), p. 312’, 1st of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Girl with the Silver Eyes”, the Op [10th of 25], referred to in BM as ‘Hammett’s San Francisco Detective’, sequel to “The House in Turk Street” (4/15/1924), issue also includes letter about the story, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), in The Girl with the Silver Eyes: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, vol.2 (Steeger, 2023),17th of 51 stories in BM

~ Frank Howard, Jr., “The Vernacular at the Night Court”, ‘No data’ [no explanation as to what that means], author’s only appearance in BM

~ Victor Shea, “Mr. Pentridge Comes Down to Breakfast”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Lively Corpse”, 30th of 49 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 31st of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “Monty’s Last Job”, last of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, last of 13 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[terrible cover but first I’ve seen since starting this project in 2013]

[cover updated 2/16/26]

June 1936 issue ~ cover art by Walter Baumhofer

June 1936 issue

cover art by Walter Baumhofer

better image than previously posted

Frederick Nebel, “Murder by Mail” (Cardigan)

Hugh B. Cave, “The Lady Who Left Her Coffin” (Martin Lane)

William E. Barrett, “The Tattooed Circle” (Needle Mike)

Frederick C. Davis, “The Case of the Queen’s Headsman” (Carter Cole)

Robert Sidney Bowen, “The Corpse in Seat 2” (Kip Lacey)

“Murder by Mail” was reprinted in Hard-Boiled Dames (St. Martin’s, 1986) and The Complete Cases of Cardigan (Altus Press, 2011)

“The Lady Who Left Her Coffin” reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Pulp Action (Carroll & Graff, 2001)