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
- ISBN10 0307455432
- ISBN13 9780307455437
- Publish Date 21 September 2010
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 1136
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780307455437