Field, Temple (pseudonym of Raoul Whitfield). KILLERS’ CARNIVAL. New York: Farrar & Rinehart Incorporated Publishers, [1932]. Octavo, pp. [1-10] 1-274 [275-278: blank], publisher’s red cloth stamped in black, top edge stained gray, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. A violent tough guy novel of murder and revenge on the mean streets of New York City, first published in six parts in BLACK MASK. The dedication is one of the best in hard-boiled fiction: “This book is warningly dedicated to all them fellers whose rackets are so tough they figure guns are sweeter things to pack around then umbrellas.” Hubin, p. 282. A clean, tight, very good copy in price-clipped dust jacket with wear and shallow fraying and short tear, several with small internal tape mends, along top and bottom edges. Quite presentable overall. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down.
~Tom Curry, “The House of Jewels”, 8th of 39 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Forget ‘Em All”, 9th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 16th of 99 stories in BM
~ Cecil F. Hilleary, “The Lost Bullet”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Frederick Jackson, “Risky Whiskey”, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Black Burton Sits In”, 2nd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 2nd of 39 stories in BM
~ Colin Martins, “Ho-o-o-o for Tango!”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Ralph E. Renaud, “Telling the Cock-eyed World”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Henry S. Whitehead, “Gahd Laff”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Jenny Meets the Boys”, ‘border air-story’, 3rd of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
~ Louis Victor Eytinge, “When Fingerprints Lied”, ‘Paul Prentiss, former pete-man (safe blower)’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Westmoreland Gray, “Guns of Silence”, ‘Vic Cammack, reporter, & Jerry the Yegg, crook, vs. bandits’, last of 3 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Dynamite”, 3rd of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (Knopf hc, 1929), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 34th of 51 stories in BM
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Faith o’ MacGown”, 1st of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 11th of 39 stories in BM
~ Carl L. Martin, “Pore Pickin’s”, Deputy Lon Havens, Drew County, Bayou country, ‘bank robbery & Mississippi River flood, dialect used’, 2nd of 6 in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Penalty of the Code”, ‘the code of silence’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 10 of 67 stories in BM
~ William S. Newell, “A Man Reforms”, ‘Louse’ Eller, a punk criminal, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Stephen Payne, “The Fifth Loop”, ‘Western‘, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ L.R. Sherman, “The Man Who Would Not Quit”, ‘Far North’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Sky’s the Limit”, last of 7 Chuck Reddington story; ‘airplanes & machineguns’, 17th of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
~ Galen C. Colin, “Wrong Font Brands”, ‘Pica Slim, tramp printer’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Carroll John Daly, “Murder by Mail”, 38th of 53 with Race Williams, ‘vs. Bull Lowery’, 50th of 71 appearances in BM
~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Man in White”, 2nd of 6 parts in the ‘Rainbow Diamonds’ sequence that take Jo Gar from Manila to San Francisco, 11th of 24 Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)
~ Grimes Hill (pseud. of Frederick Lewis Nebel), “The Kill”, 1st of 2 stories in this issue by the author, 1st of 2 stories under this name in BM, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014),
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Junk”, 13th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy ‘fighting river pirates’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 30 of 67 Nebel stories in BM
~ James P. Olsen, “Who Knows?”, 5th of 6 Western stories in BM
~ Joseph T. Shaw, “Derelict”, 2nd of 4-part serialization of his 1930 novel, ‘murder, romance and disaster on a deserted ocean liner’, 3rd of 9 fiction pieces in BM
~ Peter Ames Cressey, “Do Your Stuff, Ranger”, ‘Western with Carnes’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Spawn of the Night”, 8th of 10 Bob Larkin stories, listed incorrectly in the Table of Contents as ‘Hanging Friday’, 43rd of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “Fly Paper”, ‘the Op [23rd of 25] & arsenical fly paper, reprinted The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), 40th of 51 stories of BM
~ Earl and Marion Scott, “The Other Cameo”, 3rd of 6 stories with ‘Cameo Kirby, reformed jewel thief’, 8th of 17 stories in BM as a couple
~ Victor Shaw, “Birds of Prey”, ‘getaway from a road gang’, last of 5 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “River Street Death”, Gary Greer, 7th (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 33rd of 68 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]. Reprinted in Laughing Death (Steeger Books, 2021).
~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “The Caleso Murders”, 1st story by RFW in this issue, 8th of 24 Jo Gar stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)
~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Racketeers’ Reef”, last of 3 with Rio Kennedy of the Customs Service in Santo Domingo, 20th of 39 stories in BM
~ Horace McCoy, “The Mailed Fist”, 8th of 14 Frost stories ’Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger & Stepsons have a go at ‘The Big Shot’, 9th of 17 stories in BM
~ Frederick L. Nebel, “The Red-Hots”, 2nd of 15 stories with ‘tough dick Donahue of Interstate’, reprinted in Tough as Nails (2012, Altus), 27 of 67 stories in BM
~ James P. Olsen, “Honor of the Show”, ‘deformed sideshow owner, Price Eco, and murder’, 3rd of 6 Western stories in BM
~ Bertrand W(illiam) Sinclair, “Rope’s End”, ‘Western; Bill Stokes’, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder in the Ring”, ‘boxing, gamblers, racketeers, with Primo-Carnera-like boxer’; reprinted in May ’51 issue, 2nd story in this issue, 44th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
8o. Original canary yellow cloth; pictorial dust jacket by J.V.W. Oliver (very minor chipping to ends of spine panel; short tear to lower edge of back panel).
FIRST EDITION, in the scarce dust jacket. “Death went up the river with the Virgin, Eric Vennell’s yacht, when that millionaire gambler sailed for the Regatta at Poughkeepsie with his oddly assorted guests” (dust jacket). Illustration on page 56.
~ 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, an anagram of Wilber Wheeler
~ 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]
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Triple Treachery”, 30th of 73 stories with Ed Jenkins, with his wife Helen Chadwick, in LA, 2nd half of story with Ramsey, from previous issue, 47th of 99 stories in BM
~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 4 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 38th of 45 stories in BM
~ Horace McCoy, “Renegades of the Rio”, 3rd of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, 4th of 17 stories in BM
~ Lester Reynard, “Saving the Double-Cross”, 4th of 5 stories in BM
~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Craleigh Comes to Life”, 2nd of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, 10th of 17 stories in BM as a couple
~ L.R. Sherman, “Reading Sign on the Sagebrush Kid”, Western, last of 3 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Outside”, ‘Mal Ourney; part 1 (of 5), ‘The Crime Breeders’, presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial’, pub. in hardcover in 1930 by Knopf as Green Ice, 35th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
SMB Noir 