The Black Mask Murders

The Black Mask Boys #1

by William F. Nolan

Mystery and suspense readers are in for a rare treat with The Black Mask Murders, a unique achievement in the art of sophisticated action entertainment. It is the first in a series featuring the three seminal authors of the American private eye novel - Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner - each, in turn, as himself, the detective-hero. In the first of this delightfully offbeat mystery series, "Dash" Hammett is the narrator, with the other two in subsidiary roles; their turns will come in subsequent books. The reader encounters high-stakes crime and corruption in a dazzling murder case in the chic glitter-world of Hollywood during its golden age. Colorful sequences extend from New York to San Francisco's Chinatown to Southern California's Big Bear Lake country. Authentically recreated, the legendary masters of suspense fiction live again as they follow a complex, danger-filled blood trail in pursuit of a fabled jeweled treasure - the real-life inspiration for Hammett's classic novel, The Maltese Falcon. Gritty and glamorous, fascinating and fast-paced, bold and brilliantly conceived, here is a compulsive read for those who seek the unusual in the best of mystery and suspense. There's never been a novel quite like The Black Mask Murders.

Genres: Mystery

214 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

William F. Nolan is best known as the co-author (with George Clayton Johnson) of Logan's Run -- a science fiction novel that went on to become a movie, a television series and is about to become a movie again -- and as single author of its sequels. His short stories have been selected for scores of anthologies and textbooks and he is twice winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Nolan was born in 1928 in Kansas City Missouri. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as an artist for Hallmark Cards. He moved to California in the late 1940s and studied at San Diego State College. He began concentrating on writing rather than art and, in 1952, was introduced by fellow Missouri native (and established writer) Ray Bradbury to another young up-and-coming author, Charles Beaumont. Moving to the Los Angeles area in 1953, Nolan became along with Bradbury, Beaumont, and Richard Matheson part of the "inner core" of the soon-to-be highly influential "Southern California Group" of writers. By 1956 Nolan was a full-time writer. Since 1951 he has sold more than 1500 stories, articles, books, and other works.

Although Nolan wrote roughly 2000 pieces, to include biographies, short stories, poetry, and novels, Logan’s Run retains its hold on the public consciousness as a political fable and dystopian warning. As Nolan has stated: “That I am known at all is still astonishing to me... "

He passed away at the age of 93 due to complications from an infection.

Reviews

[Sally Sugarman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of a series of three mysteries about three writers who wrote for the Black Mask magazine. They are Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Erle Stanly Gardner. Each book is narrated by a different writer. This one is by Hammett and he is the major figure although the other two are there helping him out. The style is his. The author knows his characters well, particularly Hammett as he did several biographies of him. Hammett was a Pinkerton detective and this comes through clearly. He is trying to help the editor of The Black Mask whose daughter and ex-love are involved. The mother of Joe Shaw’s daughter is now a glamourous movie star. Hammett is working as a high paid movie script writer, adapting his own and others works. When the glamorous movie star ends up dead and Joe’s precious Cat’s Eye, a jeweled skull that was the model for the Maltese Falcon, ends up missing, Joe calls on Dash to help solve the mystery. Of course, Ray and Erle are there to help Dash get through the tough spots. Along the way, it is pleasant to have lunch with Bill Faulkner, encounter Scotty Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, all people Dash knew. There is an authenticity to the story that comes out of Nolan’s research and knowledge of the magazine and into Hammett. The story moves quickly and is engaging all along the way. We even get some idea about the relationship between Dash and Lillian Hellman.

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting is California 1935 and the detectives are Dashiell Hammett (narrator), Raymond Chandler and Erle Stanley Gardner (of Perry Mason fame), all working together to solve a case on behalf of their boss, Black Mask publisher Joseph Shaw. The premise is preposterous -- since wouldn't these renowned writers simply hire a real detective to do this dirty work? -- and one wants to read the book in the style of Hammett, but I have to admit it is still great fun to imagine what each thought of the other and how they might interact. Enhancing it all are visits by other luminaries like Ernest Hemingway and Ben Hecht as well as tie-ins with The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and other works that can be spotted by the alert and informed reader.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just silly. Never really feels real. More of a pastiche than a novel.

[kat]

read for my pulp fiction class

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent attempt at a mystery from the author of Logan's Run. This book is narrated by Dashiell Hammett, and he is joined by Earle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler in an investigation involving a fabulous treasure, a missing daughter, and the publisher of Black Mask magazine.

The story is a bit jagged and random with a bit too many "1930s Hollywood stars" inserts, like namedropping. There's a conflict between these three authors who really do not want to get involved and other than Hammett have no experience with investigations to begin with... and the need for the plot to move along. The story progresses pretty much chiseled in stone, with the main characters just along for the ride.

Worse, Hammett does not at all feel like Dashiell Hammett, he's just a guy that once in a while drops in a period term or line like one of his books. None of them feel right. Raymond Chandler spoke with an educated British accent but is saying things like "yeah" just the same as everyone else. There are good parts, but the overall effect is not great and while Nolan planned several other books in a series, this is the only one he wrote.

Its entertaining but uneven and disappointing compared to what I was hoping for from the concept of three top notch Black Mask authors solving a mystery.

[Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just way too much fun-picked it up in a closeout bin for $3.98 because I liked the cover-the price tag covered the author's name-so I didnt realize till the end that it was a William Nolan novel-Im interested now in reading his other two novels detailing the crime solving escapades of his three heroes-Dashiel Hammet, Eric Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler.

Just a lot of fun.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

of the three in these series I liked this one the least but I still would have red all three if this had been the first I read.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. Looking for the rest of the series.