An unstoppable anthology of crime stories culled from Black Mask magazine the legendary publication that turned a pulp phenomenon into literary mainstream.
Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared. It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like "Murder Is Bad Luck," "Ten Carets of Lead," and "Drop Dead Twice." Collected here is best of the best, the hardest of the hardboiled, and the darkest of the dark of America's finest crime fiction. This masterpiece collection represents a high watermark of America's underbelly. Crime writing gets no better than this.
Featuring
• Deadly Diamonds
• Dancing Rats
• A Prize Fighter Fighting for His Life
• A Parrot that Wouldn't Talk
Including
• Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon as it was originally published
• Lester Dent's Luck in print for the first time
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Foreword Otto Penzler
Introduction Keith Alan Deutsch
Come and Get It Erle Stanley Gardner
Cry Silence Fredric Brown
Arson Plus Peter Collinson
Fall Guy George Harmon Coxe
Doors in the Dark Frederick Nebel
Luck Lester Dent
The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett
Ten Carats of Lead Stewart Sterling
Murder Is Bad Luck Wyatt Blassingame
Her Dagger Before Me Talmadge Powell
One Shot Charles G. Booth
The Dancing Rats Richard Sale
Bracelets Katherine Brocklebank
Diamonds Mean Death Thomas Walsh
Murder in the Ring Raoul Whitfield
The Parrot That Wouldn’t Talk Walter C. Brown
Let the Dead Alone Merle Constiner
Knights of the Open Palm Carroll John Daly
Waiting for Rusty William Cole
Rainbow Diamonds Ramon Decolta
The Ring on the Hand of Death William Rollins Jr.
Body Snatcher Theodore A. Tinsley
Murder on the Gayway Dwight V. Babcock
The Key Cleve F. Adams
The Bloody Bokhara William Campbell Gault
A Taste for Cognac Brett Halliday
Sauce for the Gander Day Keene
A Little Different W. T. Ballard
The Shrieking Skeleton Charles M. Green
Drop Dead Twice Hank Searls
The Sound of the Shot Dale Clark
Flaming Angel Frederick C. Davis
Odds on Death Don M. Mankiewicz
Those Catrini Norvell Page
Smoke in Your Eyes Hugh B. Cave
Blood, Sweat and Biers Robert Reeves
The Black Bottle Whitman Chambers
The Corpse Didn’t Kick Milton K. Ozaki
Try the Girl Raymond Chandler
Don’t You Cry for Me Norbert Davis
T. McGuirk Steals a Diamond Ray Cummings
Wait for Me Steve Fisher
Ask Me Another Frank Gruber
Dirty Work Horace McCoy
Merely Murder Julius Long
Murder in One Syllable John D. MacDonald
Three Apes from the East H. H. Stinson
Death Stops Payment D. L. Champion
The Color of Honor Richard Connell
Middleman for Murder Bruno Fischer
The Man Who Chose the Devil Richard Deming
Beer-Bottle Polka C. M. Kornbluth
Borrowed Crime Cornell Woolrich
