Sun 27 Sep 2026
BLACK MASK – June 1940. Editor: K. S. White. Cover artist: Rafael DeSoto. Overall rating: **½.
ERLE STANLEY GARDNER “Tong Trouble” Ed Jenkins. Novelette. Ed Jenkins, the Phantom Crook, applies his talents on behalf of Chinese friends, and a tong war, threatened by an unsolved murder, is averted, Told in the obvious Gardner style, as we learn as a bonus how to panhandle on the street and some information about the Chinese people. (3)
ROGER TORREY “Too Many Angles.” Donovan. Novelette. A private detective by the name of Donovan takes on a case for a patent attorney and gets involved with several murders before he proves his client guilty of government sabotage. Violent. (2)
JOHN LAWRENCE “Body of Evidence.” Broadway Squad. Hackett of the Broadway Squad unwillingly provides an alibi for a released prisoner who threatens the life of everyone who helped send him up. (3)
PAUL ALEXANDER “Overseer of the Poor.” Short story (three pages long) based on an obscure law in upstate New York. (2)
DONALD S. AITKEN “The Same Old Oil.” Peanut oil on a billfold traps a killer. Obvious from title, otherwise the clues are hidden. (2)
H. H. STINSON “Clamp Down.” Novelette. Ken O’Hara. O’Hara of the L.A. Tribune is assigned to hush up political blackmail for an endorsed candidate, White slave trade and a rival San Francisco reporter also develop. (3)
September 30th, 2026 at 11:23 am
More on Ed Jenkins: https://thrillingdetective.com/2019/01/11/ed-jenkins-the-phantom-crook/amp/
September 30th, 2026 at 4:37 pm
Thanks for the link, Tony. Anything Kevin writes about fictional PI’s is worth reading. Not that Ed Jenkins is a PI, really.
He’s close enough, though.
Strangely enough, I started an Ed Jenkins story in EQMM about a week ago, and I thought to myself, is this the first Ed Jenkins story I’ve ever read? )There were over 70 of them.)
I couldn’t think of another, then this old review popped up. Proved me wrong, it did, but I still don’t remember it.
October 3rd, 2026 at 2:52 am
I was sold at an Ed Jenkins story. There are two hardcover collections of Ed Jenkins stories from later in the series, and I believe at least one volume is out or due out collecting more. I have a few Black Mask issues offline that have Jenkins stories, but they are fairly rare though I think they are among Gardner’s best pulp work easily comparable to his clever and better appreciated Lester Leith stories.