Black Mask Boys, edited by William Nolan

The Black Mask Boys contains eight stories published in Black Mask by some of the great pulp mystery writiers: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Earl Stanley Gardner and more. One or two stories are ‘less than stellar’ but those by the masters, Hammett and Chandler, are great.

But more than the stories, Nolan wrote brief biographies of these authors and these stories are almost as good as the mysteries. Many of the authors were lusting for adventure, had a myriad of jobs from working on trains to flying airplanes to living overseas. They were, by and large, an unstable group of people. Some got into writing at young ages and some old. Some drank to excess. Some plowed through substantial amounts of money in short periods of time. Many had short lived and multiple marriages. It is a far cry from the mystery writers of today, Michael Connelly, Robert Parker, Ed McBain who seem so ‘tame’ by comparison. But then, many of them don’t write with the grit of the pulp masters.

As I read the stories and bios, I wondered whether it was the times these pulp authors lived in that impacted both their lives and their writings?  Whatever it was, the authors in this anthology are considered masters of their trade, and with few exceptions, it is evident in their work.