The biggest, the boldest, the most comprehensive collection of Pulp writing ever assembled.

Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train — a bullet couldn't pass through it. Here are the best stories and every major writer who ever appeared in celebrated Pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and more. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives who smoke criminals like packs of cigarettes; sultry dames whose looks are as lethal as a dagger to the chest; and gin-soaked hideouts where conversations are just preludes to murder. This is crime fiction at its gritty best.

Including:

• Three stories by Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Dashiell Hammett.
• Complete novels from Carroll John Daly, the man who invented the hard-boiled detective, and Fredrick Nebel, one of the masters of the form.
• A never before published Dashiell Hammett story.
• Every other major pulp writer of the time, including Paul Cain, Steve Fisher, James M. Cain, Horace McCoy, and many, many more of whom you've probably never heard.
• Three deadly sections — The Crimefighters, The Villains, and Dames — with three unstoppable introductions by Harlan Coben, Harlan Ellison, and Laura Lippman

Featuring:

• Plenty of reasons for murder, all of them good.
• A kid so smart — he'll die of it.
• A soft-hearted loan shark's legman learning — the hard way — never to buy a strange blonde a hamburger.
• The uncanny "Moon Man" and his mad-money victims.

"This impressive anthology of pulp-era crime stories from veteran editor and publisher Penzler reveals not only tales with surprising staying power but also some of high literary quality. To be sure, there are some selections sure to offend modern sensibilities and others whose extravagant prose now comes across as laughable or ludicrous. But aside from questions of quality and taste, these tales laid the foundation for most branches of the crime fiction genre as we know it today. Raymond Chandler's 'Red Wind' is as effective now as it was when published in 1938. An unexpected treat is 'Faith,' a previously unpublished Dashiell Hammett story. Multiple offerings from Erle Stanley Gardner, Hammett, Chandler and Cornell Woolrich add luster. Divided into three sections — the Crimefighters, the Villains, the Dames — with cogent intros by Penzler to each entry, this comprehensive volume allows the reader to revisit that exciting time when the pulp magazines flourished and writers pounded out fiction for a penny a word or less." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[T]here's guilty fun to be had in the snarling prose and vintage illustrations of what the editor, Otto Penzler, promises are 'the best crime stories' from the 'golden age' of the '20s, '30s and '40s." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Though other similar collections exist, this noirasaurus will appeal to the genre's many fans. If pulps are your cup, it will runneth over with Black Lizard's gangbusters collection." Library Journal

"Virtually all the stories go on too long, but Daly's short novel helps demonstrate why the longish story was pulp fiction's ideal metier, and what miracles Red Harvest and The Big Sleep were. Part reference, part guilty pleasure, part doorstop." Kirkus Reviews

"Readers of this almost ludicrously entertaining collection will find both junk and excellence, more lazy harebrained plotting than they can shake a stick at, legions of clunky sentences and pages of great dialogue and off-the-cuff poetry." The Los Angeles Times

"Spend time with more than a thousand pages of crime fiction, though, and see if it doesn't rub off on you....Penzler organizes the book into three parts: crimefighters, villains and dames. It's a good move." Kansas City Star

"It's a little less fun reading these slim things in a groaning compendium, but at least it's a paperback. And good luck finding them all on your own." Booklist

Here are 45 of the best stories and the major writers who ever appeared in celebrated pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, and Detective Fiction Weekly. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives.

Otto Penzler is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. He was publisher of The Armchair Detective, the founder of the Mysterious Press and the Armchair Detective Library, and created the publishing firm Otto Penzler Books. He is a recipient of an Edgar Award for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection and the Ellery Queen Award by the Mystery Writers of America for his many contributions to the field. He is the series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. His other anthologies include Murder for Love, Murder for Revenge, Murder and Obsession, The 50 Greatest Mysteries of All Time, and The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century. He wrote 101 Greatest Movies of Mystery and Suspense. He lives in New York City.

Otto Penzler: Foreword

PART ONE

THE CRIMEFIGHTERS

Harlan Coben: Introduction

Paul Cain: One, Two, Three

Dashiell Hammett: The Creeping Siamese

Erle Stanley Gardner: Honest Money

Horace McCoy: Frost Rides Alone

Thomas Walsh: Double Check

Charles G. Booth: Stag Party

Leslie T. White: The City of Hell!

Raymond Chandler: Red Wind

Frederick Nebel: Wise Guy

George Harmon Coxe: Murder Picture

Norbert Davis: The Price of a Dime

William Rollins, Jr.: Chicago Confetti

Cornell Woolrich: Two Murders, One Crime

Carroll John Daly: The Third Murderer

PART TWO

THE VILLAINS

Harlan Ellison: Introduction

Erle Stanley Gardner: The Cat-Woman

Cornell Woolrich: The Dilemma of the Dead Lady

Richard Sale: The House of Kaa

Leslie Charteris: The Invisible Millionaire

Steve Fisher: You’ll Always Remember Me

Dashiell Hammett: Faith

James M. Cain: Pastorale

Frank Gruber: The Sad Serbian

Raymond Chandler: Finger Man

Erle Stanley Gardner:The Monkey Murder

Raoul Whitfield: About Kid Deth

Frederick C. Davis: The Sinister Sphere

Paul Cain: Pigeon Blood

C. S. Montanye: The Perfect Crime

Norbert Davis: You’ll Die Laughing

Frederick Nebel: The Crimes of Richmond City

i) Raw Law

ii) Dog Eat Dog

iii) The Law Laughs Last

iv) Law Without Law

v) Graft

PART THREE

THE DAMES

Laura Lippman: Introduction

Cornell Woolrich: Angel Face

Leslie T. White: Chosen to Die

Eric Taylor: A Pinch of Snuff

Raymond Chandler: Killer in the Rain

Adolphe Barreaux: Sally the Sleuth

C. S. Montanye: A Shock for the Countess

C. B. Yorke: Snowbound

Randolph Barr: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

D. B. McCandless: The Corpse in the Crystal

D. B. McCandless: He Got What He Asked For

P. T. Luman: Gangster’s Brand

Robert Reeves: Dance Macabre

Dashiell Hammett: The Girl with the Silver Eyes

Perry Paul: The Jane from Hell’s Kitchen

Whitman Chambers: The Duchess Pulls a Fast One

Roger Torrey: Mansion of Death

Roger Torrey: Concealed Weapon

Carlos Martinez: The Devil’s Bookkeeper

Lars Anderson: Black Legion

Richard Sale: Three Wise Men of Babylon

Eugene Thomas: The Adventure of the Voodoo Moon

T. T. Flynn: Brother Murder

Stewart Sterling: Kindly Omit Flowers

Contributors Notes

Permissions Acknowledgments