the curtain – SMB Noir

Killer in the Rain x 2

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

August 25, 2013

[post reworked 7/4/25]

September 1936 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

September 1936 issue

cover art by John Drew

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Men of the FBI”, 6^th of 7 with LA FBI agent Chuck Thompson, 11^th of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “There’s No Excuses for Murder”, 15th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, ‘LaBrea Tar Pits figure into the story’, 21st of 43 stories in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “The Curtain”, PI Carmody #3 of 4, reprinted in the anthology Killer in the Rain, 1963 Hamish Hamilton UK hardcover, first book appearance, 10^th of 11 stories in BM

~ George Harmon Coxe, “Too Many Women”, 18^th of 27 with Flashgun Casey, 21st of 31 stories in BM

~ Theodore A. Tinsley, “Murder Maze”, ‘17th (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’, ‘Tracy meets a Coney Island “Hindu”, reprinted in Murder Maze: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, vol.2 (Steeger 2022), 18th of 26 stories in BM

[cover updated 11/8/25]

1st Pocket edition, December 1965

1st Pocket edition, December 1965

first hardcovers were 1964 from Hamish Hamilton the UK and Houghton Mifflin in the US

From Black Mask Magazine: “Killer in the Rain”, “The Men Who Liked Dogs”, “The Curtain” and “Try the Girl”

From Dime Detection Magazine: “Mandarin’s Jade”, “Bay City Blues” and “The Lady in the Lake”

From Detective Story Magazine: “No Crime in the Mountains”