woman with a gun – Page 51

1952 LAPD crime photos

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, original art added 3/1/26]

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

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[original art added 1/30/26]

January-February 1939 issue ~ cover art by John Howitt

January-February 1939

cover art by John Howitt

better image than previously posted

Prison Break #4 (Avon, 1952) ~ cover art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

Prison Break #4 (Avon, 1952) cover art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

October 1935 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

October 1935

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

cover art by Rafael de Soto

November 1944 issue

better image than previously posted

~ Merle Constiner, “Killer Stay ‘Way from My Door”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, 7th of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, 7^th of 12 stories in BM

~ Brett Halliday (pseud. of David Dresser), “A Taste for Cognac”, 1^st of 2 Mike Shayne stories in BM

~ Julius Long, “Blind Bogey”, 2nd of 17 stories with ’Ben Corbett, D.A.’s chief investigator, 1^st -person narrator’, 7th of 23 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Murder A.W.O.L.”, 8th Cellini Smith, ‘on his induction day, WWII’, 10th of 12 appearances in BM

cover art by Richard Lillis

Murder by the Book, Hollywood Detective, December 1944
Oil on canvas, 20 x 14 inches (50.8 x 35.6 cm)
Signed lower right

October 1939 issue ~ cover art by Edgar A. Whitney

October 1939 issue

cover art by Edgar A. Whitney

better image than previously posted

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Murder on the Gayway”, 6^th of 7 Beeker stories, ‘SF World’s Fair, Treasure Island Nude Ranch’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 20^th of 21 stories in BM

~ William Cole, “Waiting for Rusty”, ‘short-short’, only appearance in BM

~ Tiah Devitt, “The Haunted Inn”, last of 2 stories in BM

~ Mark Harper, “Death Rides Double”, ‘motorcycle cop’, pseudonym of Joseph T. Shaw, editor of BM, only fiction to appear under this name in the magazine

~ Fred Hodgkins, “Strangle-Hold”, 2^nd of 3 stories in BM

~ C.S. Montanye (Carleton Stevens), “Moron’s Holiday”, last of 29 stories in BM

~ Roger Torrey, “Kill That Witness”, ‘12th (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’, 39th of 50 appearances in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Collared”, ‘see p.31 for letter from CW on this story’, 14th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM