cover art by Norman Saunders
better image than previously posted
Robert Martin, “Sheath Your Claws, Hellcat” (Jim Bennett)
R.M.F. Jones, “Holiday for a Harpy”
Scott O’Hara, “Blood on the Midway”
Robert Turner, “It’s Time to Squirm”
John Bender, “Rock-a-Bye Killer”
Tedd Thomey, “All Burned Up”
Alvin Yudkoff, “Derelict’s Dereliction”
[updated 5/8/25]
November 1950
better image than previously posted
Robert Martin, “Slayers Burn Slow” (Jim Bennett)
Donn Mullally, “A Bullet for Baby”
T.T. Flynn, “Build-Up for Murder”*
Rufus Bakalor, “Homicidal Hobby”
Raymond Drennan, Jr., “Killer’s Luck”
John D. MacDonald, “Tri-Kill Cutie”
*reprint from 1941
cover art by Norman Saunders
Robert Martin, “I’ll Be Killing You” (Jim Bennett)
Robert Turner, “Homicidal Hitchhiker”
E.A. Morris, “Fist for a Fighting Fool”
Russell Branch, “If the Frame Fits”
Don James, “Sing a Song of Slaughter” (PI Pete Johns)
Bert Sims,“No Time to Kill” (Hawkshaw Morgan)
Alvin Yudkoff, “You Gotta Die Right”
January 1950 issue
cover art by Norman Saunders
better image than previously posted
~ D.L. Champion, “Death for a Dollar”, last of 26 Rex Sackler stories, same title as 3/44, also a Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), last of 30 stories in BM
~ Robert C. Dennis, “Stop, You’re Killing Me!”, ‘Rhodes, shamus’, 6th of 10 stories in BM
~ Bruno Fischer, “The Lady Grooms a Corpse”, last of 5 stories in BM
~ Philip Ketchum, “One Sunk Punk”, last of 3 stories in BM
~ Roy Lopez, “The Murder’s All Mine”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Robert Martin, “Dirge in Bolero Time”, 4th of 6 stories with ‘Dr. Clint Colby, medical detective, 6th of 8 stories in BM
~ Marian O’Hearn, “Swansong for an Ugly Duckling”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM
~ Herb Schneiderman, “Homicide – According to Hoyle”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Tedd Thomey, “Come Hell or Hot Water”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
cover art by Rafael DeSoto
better image than previously posted
~ Dale Clark, “The Early Corpse Gets the Worm”, 25th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 28th of 32 stories in BM
~ Harry Epstein, “The Case of the Mind-Reading Seal”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Julius Long, “Murder By the Carton”, 12th of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1st -person narrator’, 17th of 23 stories in BM
~ James R. McKenna, “Caliente”, short-short, horse racing, 1st person narrator, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Robert Martin, “Rat Race in Foxtown”, ‘Foxtown is 45 miles SW of Cleveland’, 1st of 8 stories in BM
~ Jim T. Pearce, “Always Leave ‘Em Dying”, author’s sold appearance in BM
~ William Rough, “My Gun Hires Legitimate”, ‘Ben Slabbe, p.i., who has his own agency; 3rd of 5 capers’ in BM
~ H.H. Stinson, “Unholy Matrimony”, 23rd of 27 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[US cover updated 1/29/26]
~ Frederick C. Davis, “Flaming Angel”, ‘1st-person narrator; psychopathic murderer’, 13th of 16 stories in BM
~ Dean Evans, “Frame for a Dame”, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ G.T. Fleming-Roberts, “Something Dead Has Been Added”, ‘John Anthony Gwinn, Indianapolis reporter’, 7th of 8 stories in BM
~ Marvin J. Jones, “Sing a Song of Murder”, ‘Jimmy Bell, cop’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ John D. MacDonald, “Killing All Men”, 3rd of 6 stories in BM
~ Robert Martin, “Let’s All Swing Together”, 1st of 6 with ’debut of Dr. Clint Colby, medical detective’, 3rd of 8 stories in BM
~ Scott O’Hara, “Kiss the Corpse Good-By”, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Edward van der Rhoer, “The High Cost of Dying”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[cover updated 1/29/26, original art added 3/1/26]
~ Richard Deming, “Big Shots Die Young”, Manville “Manny” Moon, 1st-person narrator, 4th of 6 stories in BM
~ Frank Gordon, “Last Kill and Testament”, ‘Alphonse Bertillon’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ W. Lee Herrington, [also published in BM as Alan Farley], “Die, Die Again”, last of 4 stories under this name in BM
~ Edward A. Herron, “Death’s 43 Days”, ‘Yukon short-short’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ John D. MacDonald, “Heritage of Hate”, 5th of 6 stories in BM
~ Larry J. Marcus, “Through the Murder Glass”, 1st of 2 stories in BM
~ Robert Martin, “Richest Man in Graveyard”, 3rd of 6 stories with ‘Dr. Clint Colby, medical detective‘, 5th of 8 stories in BM
~ Talmage Powell, “Her Dagger Before Me”, ‘Tampa (Florida) p.i. Lloyd’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), author’s only appearance in BM
~ Harold Preece, “Boulevard Buzzards”, ‘short-short; Paris in 1880’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Robert P. Toombs, “These Dead Hands Reaching”, 1st of 3 stories in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop
[original art added 1/30/26]
SMB Noir 
