1945 Avon digest reissue, 2nd edition
Gathers “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot,” “Goldfish,” “Guns at Cyrano’s” “Nevada Gas” and “Spanish Blood,” five mystery stories first published in Black Mask Magazine
better image than previously posted
1945 Avon Murder Mystery Monthly digest
cover art by Paul Stahr
Avon Book Company, [1946]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Second paperback edition. Avon #88. Published earlier by Avon in 1945 as part of their “Murder Mystery Monthly” series. Collects five stories; “I’ll Be Waiting,” “The King in Yellow,” “Pearls Are a Nuisance,” ” Red Wind,” and “Trouble is My Business.” Light crease to front cover, light stress creases to spine, a near fine copy.
better image than previously posted
cover art by Fred Craft
~ John L. Chambliss, “The Contact”, NYC PI Schuyler Blake, only appearance in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot”, his debut in BM, his first published writing, 1st of 2 with PI Mallory, 1st of 11 stories in BM, first book appearance in Five Murderers (Avon digest, 1944), reprinted in Red Wind (Tower hc, 1946), The Smell of Fear (Hamish Hamilton/UK hc, 1965), Midnight Raymond Chandler (Houghton Mifflin hc, 1971), The Black Mask Boys (Morrow, 1985)
~ Eugene Cunningham, “Chalk”, 2nd of 5 with undercover Texas Ranger Cleve Corby, 8th of 14 stories in BM
~ Tom Curry, “Clancy Takes the Air”, Clancy, NYPD 1st grade dick, author’s last of 39 stories in BM
~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Dead Men’s Shoes”, 53th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘The Phantom Crook’ with Ngat T’oy, 77th of 99 stories in BM
~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Murder Again”, ‘L.A. County dicks; Hollywood story’, 65th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
better image than previously posted
Carroll John Daly, “Gangman ’s Gallows” (Race Williams)
Raymond Chandler, “Trouble is My Business ” (John Dalmas)
Edward Ronns, “Three Doors to Doom”
O.B. Myers, “Fire and Ice”
Hugh B. Cave, “Deal from the Bottom”
D.L. Champion, “Laughter in Hell”
cover art by Walter Baumhofer
better image than previously posted
Carroll John Daly, “A Corpse on the House” (Race Williams)
Raymond Chandler, “The King in Yellow” (Steve Grace, housedick) – first appearance of this story, one often reprinted
Frederick C. Davis, “Crimson Broadcast” (Keyhole Kerry)
William Edward Hayes, “Death by Enlargement”
Maxwell Hawkins, “Rx Murder”
Double Indemnity (Paramount, 1944). Fine on Linen. One Sheet (27.25″ X 41″).
cover art by Rudolph Belarski
better image than previously posted
~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Hide-Out”, ‘1st G-Man Chuck Thompson story of 7; CT, Special Agent, FBI, in LA’, 6th of 21 stories in BM
~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Makes a Difference”, 2nd of 2 Jimmy DeHaven stories, 14th of 43 stories in BM
~ Raymond Chandler, “Nevada Gas”, Johnny DeRuse, first book appearance Five Murderers (Avon digest, 2/3/44), first hardcover appearance The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin, 1950), then Pickup on Noon Street (Pocket, 1/52), various paperback editions 5th of 11 stories in BM
~ George Harmon Coxe, “Thirty Tickets to Win”, ‘Flashgun Casey at the race-track’, 11th of 27 Casey, 11th of 31 stories in BM
~ Roger Torrey, “Dead Men Can Talk”, last of 11 Dal Prentice capers, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, 16th of 50 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 11/9/25]
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1964. First UK Edition, preceding all others. The first collection of these stories.
“Killer in the Rain” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1935)
“The Man Who Liked Dogs” (Black Mask Magazine, Mar. 1936)
“The Curtain” (Black Mask Magazine, Sept. 1936)
“Try the Girl” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1937)
“Mandarin’s Jade” (Dime Detective Magazine, Nov. 1937)
“Bay City Blues” (Dime Detective Magazine, June 1938)
“The Lady in the Lake” (Dime Detective Magazine, Jan. 1939)
“No Crime in the Mountains”(Detective Story Magazine, Sept. 1941)
introduction by Philip Durham
1st Pocket edition, December 1965
June 1973 Bantam reissue
cover art by Tom Adams
July 1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print
cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie
[post reworked 7/4/25]
cover art by Tom Dunn
better image than previously posted
cover art by Robert Maguire
1965 Pocket reissue (7th printing, October of ’65)
better image than previously posted
June 1973 Ballantine reissue*
cover art by Tom Adams
1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print*
cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie
cover art credited to Richard Waldrep
“Pickup On Noon Street” (Detective Fiction Weekly, May 1936, originally titled “Noon Street Nemesis”)
“Smart-Aleck Kill” (Black Mask Magazine, July 1934)
“Guns at Cyrano’s” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1936)
“Nevada Gas” (Black Mask Magazine, June 1936)
these stories were first gathered into a book in 1950, Houghton Mifflin’s The Simple Art of Murder
[*covers from owner’s own copies]
[updated 6/6/25]
SMB Noir 