Black Mask Audio Magazine, Volume 1

Classic Hard-Boiled Tales from the Original Black Mask

By: Hugh B. Cave, Paul Cain, Frederick Nebel, Reuben J. Shay, Dashiell Hammett, William Cole

Narrated by: Hollywood Theater of the Ear

Audie Award, Short Stories and Collections, 2010

In the1930s and '40s, Black Mask was the single most important magazine for the modern mystery field. Here, writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Earl Stanley Gardner reshaped the established view of mystery fiction, creating the "hard-boiled" private eye.

Now this series resurrects from those pages the toughest of tough detectives in sonic dramatizations from the award-winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear.

Stories included in this volume are "Lost and Found" by Hugh B. Cave, "Pigeon Blood" by Paul Cain, "Rough Justice" by Frederick Nebel, "Black" by Paul Cain, "The Missing Mr. Lee" by Hugh B. Cave, "Trouble Chaser" by Paul Cain, "Too Many Have Lived" by Dashiell Hammett, "Taking His Time" by Reuben J. Shay, and "Waiting for Rusty" by William Cole.

©2008 Keith Alan Deutsch (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"These shorts, highly acclaimed in the 1930s, are given new life by some of the best voices of our time." (AudioFile)

shorts

love em! great series and I really liked their short stores. I am trying to use up 15 words!

Not Bad

Overall, this was pretty entertaining. I’ve always enjoyed listening to these “old-tine” radio programs and this one did not disappoint me.

Old Radio Days

I truly enjoyed these black mask radio programs. I found the narration as if I was in the room with the actors. I really liked the variation of all the different mystery thrillers.

Not a fanboy of old-timey radio, but…

…these are actually very simply well-written, well-told, and well-performed stories!

I may or may not listen to more of these, we’ll see…

old fashioned fun

This was like stepping back in time to the old fashioned pulp detective novels. Includes a nice variety of authors. The recording is excellent.