cover art by Walter Baumhofer
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Frederick Nebel, “Hell Couldn’t Stop Him” (Cardigan)
Leslie T. White, “Crook for a Night” (Toby Laird)
William Edward Hayes, “The Corpse on the Semaphore” (Dan Howell)
T. T. Flynn, “The Dragons of Change Ch’ien” (Val Easton)
O.B. Myers, “Grave Mates” (Jimmy McRay)
January 1937 issue
cover art by Wilber Thomas
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~ Dwight V. Babcock, “State Narcotic Dick”, ‘Bromley and muggles (marijuana)’, 13th of 21 stories in BM
~ J.M. Bell, “The Blinking Eye”, short-short, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Max Brand, “Bulldog”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Try the Girl”, 4th and last Carmady story, first reprint and first book appearance Killer in the Rain (Hammish Hamilton, 3/26/64), last of 11 stories in BM
~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Little Guy”, ‘18th (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), 19th of 26 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Murder Frame”, ‘Cassidy, cop, is framed’, 24th of 50 appearances in BM
~ Cornell Woolrich, “Shooting Going On”, ‘Hollywood murder’, 1st of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM
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cover art by Fred Craft
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~ Tom Curry, “The Peterman”, 10th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, ‘peterman’ = high explosives expert’, 15th of 39 stories in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “The Snarl of the Beast”, 19th of 53 with Race Williams, part 2 of 4 serial, published as a novel in 1927 as The Snarl of the Beast, reprinted in The Snarl of the Beast: The Collected Hard-boiled Stories of Race Williams, v.2 (Altus, 2016), 28th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Westmoreland Gray, “Box V’s Night of Mystery”, ‘Western’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Stud Tactics”, 5th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 7th of 39 stories in BM
~ F.N. Litten, “The Ninth Life”, ‘gangster story’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Carl L. Martin, “Figgerin’ Roughly”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, 1st of 6 in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “A Man with Sand”, ‘see p. 128 for data on FLN with small photo’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 6 of 67 stories in BM
~ L. King Tichenor, “False Impressions”, ‘Told in prison near execution time’, last of 5 stories in BM
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August 1924 issue
~ Carroll John Daly, “Them That Lives by Their Guns”, 4th 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) 12th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Our Own Short Story Course”, letter to editor from DH, in part about BM’s rejection of “Women, Politics and Murder” [not counted as a ‘story’]
~ Irvin Mattick, “The Devil’s Rocket”, ‘closing act of Koerner’s ‘Greatest Show on Earth’, sole appearance in BM
~ Harold Freeman Miners, “Topango Reverses the Decision”, 3rd of 4 with ‘Topanga John, ancient desert rat’, 4th of 5 stories in BM
~ J. Fortune Reade, “The Windfall”, last of 3 stories in BM
~ Victor Shea, “Charity”, short-short, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Gun-Girl”, ‘Celia Cooney & 42 stick-ups in 4 ½ months’, 32nd of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 33rd of 49 total articles in BM
~ Edward Parrish Ware, “The Jungle Buzzard”, ‘Western’, 5th of 9 stories in BM
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cover art by William Reusswig
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Carroll John Daly, “Blood on the Curtain” (Marty Day & Reckoner)
Allan Vaughan Elston, “Winking Death” (Arthur Baird & Patrick Shone)
T.T. Flynn, “Red Dollars” (Jerry Prince)
Oscar Schisgall, “Wrapped for Murder” (Dan Taggert, PI)
cover art by Fred Craft
~ J. Edgar Ambler, “The Buzzard”, ‘The Buzzard & the Cracker, criminals’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Tom Curry, “The Stick-Up Club”, 8th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 13th of 39 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “In Full Account”, 16th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, last of 3 with ‘The Girl with the Mole’, reprinted in Dead Men’s Letters (1990, Carroll & Graf anthology of Jenkins stories), 25th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “$106,000 Blood Money” Continental Op [21st of 25], sequel to “The Big Knock-Over”, in the 2/1927 issue, reprinted with its prequel as Blood Money (Tower, 1943), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 30th of 51 stories in BM
~ (Charles John) Cutcliffe Hyne, “The Liner and the Iceberg”, 7th of 8 yarns with Captain Kettle
~ Don Livingston, “No Grandstand Play”, Western, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Riblew Reelhew, “Eyes of the Night”, ‘Dandy Dan, nimble & nimble-witted crook’, 2nd of 2 stories under this pseudonym, Wilber Wheeler reversed
~ Victor Shaw, “For a Girl Like That”, ‘Western detective’, 1st of 5 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “South of Savannah”, 4th of 7 ‘Chuck Reddington story; airplanes & machineguns’, 12th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
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cover art by Walter Baumhofer
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Carroll John Daly, “Dead Hands Reaching” (Race Williams)
John K. Butler, “The Stairway to Hell” (Rex Lonergan)
Oscar Schisgall, “Island of Fear”
Norbert Davis, “The Devil’s Scalpel” (Bill Ray)
Wyatt Blassingame, “3+1 = Murder”
cover art by Albert Drake
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~ Dale Clark, “The Corpse with the Bloody Nose”, last of 28 O’Hanna stories, last of 32 appearances in BM
~ Merle Constiner, “Dead on Arrival”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 10th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, reprinted in Let the Dead Alone: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Luther McGavock (Steeger, 2020), 11th of 12 stories in BM
~ Robert C. Dennis, “Out of This World”, 2nd of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 2nd of 10 stories in BM
~ William Campbell Gault, “A Murder for Mac”, reprinted in Hot-House Homicide: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Mortimer Jones (Steeger, 2925), 2nd of 5 with PI Mortimer Jones, 3rd of 9 stories in BM
~ Coleman Meyer, “You’ll Never Grow Old”, ‘Hill Cartright, auto racer, tells it’, author’s 1st of 2 stories in BM
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better image than previously posted
cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer
~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Death in the Pasig”, Jo Gar, 2nd of 24 in BM, reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946), reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Hat Trick”, Ned Beaumont, 1st of 4 stories that will go together to make up The Glass Key (published 1931), 41st of 45 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Boom Town”, 12th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 16th of 39 stories in BM
~ Horace McCoy, “Frost Rides Again”, 5th of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 6th of 17 stories in BM, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow) as “Frost Flies Alone”
~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Bitter Business”, 3rd of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 12th of 17 stories in BM as a couple
~ Peter G. Thomas, “The Bell in the Fog”, ‘River pirates in NYC’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Oval Face”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 4 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, published in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 38th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
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