April 1933 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

April 1933 issue

cover art by J. W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Chinatown Murder”, 49th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, ‘Chinese frequently spoken’, 70th of 99 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Farewell to Crime”, 21st of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Too Young to Die: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kennedy, v.3 (Altus, 2013), 46 of 67 stories in BM

~ Norvell Page, “Black Harvest”, ‘last of 3 Jules Tremaine stories; Manhattan and Little Italy; (ed. note) a projected & potentially important series that never developed’ [Hagemann doesn’t explain his editor’s note], only these 3 stories in BM. Reprinted in Black Harvest: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jules Tremaine (Steeger Books, 2021).

~ William Rollins, Jr., “K.O. and the Killers”, 3rd of 4 stories with ‘Kenneth Osborne from ‘No’th Cah’lina’; 1st person narrator’, 20th of 23 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Give the Man Rope”, 1st of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, debut and 1st of 27 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “The Case-Hardened Samaritan”, 2nd of 11 with Dal Prentice, Magna City police dick, ‘one tough guy’, ‘Prentice – “hard when it comes to handling killers”, reprinted in The Case-Hardened Samaritan: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Dal Prentice, Vol. 1, 3rd of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1938 issue ~ cover art by J. George Janes

October 1938 issue

cover art by J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Russell Bender, “Body-Guard to Death”, ‘Jake Connolly’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Frederick C. Davis, “This Way to the Morgue”, 1st of 2 with reporter Murray Gifford, 5th of 16 stories in BM

~ Frank Gruber, “Forced Landing”, 6th of 10 with ‘Oliver Quade, The Human Encyclopedia’, ‘Quade in Hollywood; see p.5 for letter from FG on Oliver Q.’, 9th of 14 stories in BM

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “The Death Pool”, 7th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida

~ Roger Torrey, “Gardenia Kill”, ‘9th (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 36th of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

October 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

John K. Butler, “Hacker’s Holiday” (Steve Midnight)

John Lawrence, “Gallows 9” (Marquis of Broadway)

D.L. Champion, “Suicide in Blue (Insp. Allhoff)

Roger Torrey, “Candidate for a Killing”

O.B. Myers, “Death Laughs at Locksmiths”

February 1940 issue ~ cover art by J. George Janes

February 1940 issue

cover art by J. George Janes

better image than previously posted

~ Maurice Beam, “The White Lie”, ‘see p. 29 for letter from BM about story’, (thought to be possibly a pseud. of Robert Leslie Bellem), 5th of 7 stories under this name in BM

~ H.W. Guernsey, “The Last Pin”, ‘short-short’, last of 4 stories in BM

~ H.F. Howard, “The Corpse Takes a Wife”, see 12/1940 for Harvey Howard: Hagemann says ‘entirely possible HH and HFH one and the same’

~ Baynard H(ardwick) Kendrick, “Fisherman’s Luck”, 13th of 14 stories with Mikes Standish (Stan) Rice, ‘The Hungry’[?], all set in Florida, ‘Rice in South Florida’

~ Peter Paige, “Blackout!”, ‘spy story; set in Paris, early WWII‘, 4th of 12 stories in BM

~ William Tanquery, “Getting Maizie”, ‘Mac MacGrath & Jennie Komorawski, rival reporters’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Murder for Your Money”, ‘last (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 42nd of 50 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1938 issue ~ cover art by Raymond S. Pease

January 1938 issue

cover art by Raymond S. Pease

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “The Widow Regrets”, 1st of 7 Beeker (“Beek”) stories, 15th of 21 stories in BM

~ Thomas W. Duncan, “The Cat and the Corpse”, ‘Dan Macey’, author’s only story in BM

~ Steve Fisher, “No Gentleman Strangles His Wife”, ‘Kip I. Muldane, p.i. in Hawaiian’, 2nd of 9 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Blood in the Fog”, 31st of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, ‘Black Burton in London’, 38th of 39 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Relative Trouble”, ‘Shean Connell, private peep; last of 4 SC stories’, 32nd of 50 appearances in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “After-Dinner Story”, 9th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 1/26/26]