woman with a gun – Page 38

cover art by Matt Baker

Authentic Police Cases #33 (St. John, 1954)

January 1948 – premiere issue

January 1948 – premiere issue

better image than previously posted

June 1948 Famous Crimes #1

Famous Crimes #1 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1948) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Off-white to white pages.

The top photo shows an LAPD policewoman named Florence Coberly, who in a dangerous undercover operation, was asked to lure a serial rapist named Joe Parra. This would require placing herself in harm’s way so police could catch him just before the act. Supported by more than thirty cops hidden in unmarked cars and stationed around the neighborhood, Coberly did exactly that, drawing the suspect, which in turn drew her backup. Parra tried to run, and photo two shows him after he was gunned down. These shots are from 1952, a year at the end of which she would win the LAPD’s Policewoman of the Year award.

1952 LAPD crime photos

January 1944 issue

January 1944

March 1949 issue ~ cover art by Gloria Stoll

March 1949 issue

cover art by Gloria Stoll

~ Frederick C. Davis, “Flaming Angel”, ‘1^st-person narrator; psychopathic murderer’, 13^th of 16 stories in BM

~ Dean Evans, “Frame for a Dame”, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

~ G.T. Fleming-Roberts, “Something Dead Has Been Added”, ‘John Anthony Gwinn, Indianapolis reporter’, 7^th 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”, 3^rd of 6 stories in BM

~ Robert Martin, “Let’s All Swing Together”, 1^st 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”, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[cover updated 1/29/26]

July 1949 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

July 1949 issue

cover art by Norman Saunders

~ Richard Deming, “Big Shots Die Young”, Manville “Manny” Moon, 1^st-person narrator, 4^th 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”, 5^th of 6 stories in BM

~ Larry J. Marcus, “Through the Murder Glass”, 1^st 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”, 1^st of 3 stories in BM

[original art added 1/30/26]