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.

Enjoyable Murder Mystery Noir

What a great ride these few hours with the Hollywood Theater of the Ear was. Think of an old black and white movie mystery film noir for the ears. Fun, fun, fun. Interestingly, most of the short stories are written and take place in the early to mid 1930's, but could easily be revamped for today. Minus such tech advances as cell phones and internet, many could be about crime today. That said, I did get a big kick out of some of the period dialogue calling a gun a "roscoe" among other somewhat dated phrases.

Overall, a great listen available in the Audible Plus Catalogue. I honestly would not use my hard earned credits on a five hour audible book, but for free, this was a real winner.

Black Mask

Here you have 10 classic crime stories from the 30's and 40's...If you like hard boiled crime stories from yesteryear this should be right up your alley. These are radio drama's and the narration was top shape.

Fun But Of Its Time

The production is great on this dramatized compilation of short stories, with campy but good acting and fun sound effects. It's "film noir" for the ears.

I'm not bothered by elements that were of their time and might be offensive today, but if you are you might want to give this a miss. Some of its attitudes toward ethnic groups and women are definitely dated.

Wonderful nostalgia.

It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this. Great stories and great acting. Well done.

I’m so surprised that I greatly enjoyed this.

I don’t much like ensemble productions and I especially don’t like ensemble productions that have been dramatized by someone other than the original author.

So my flabber was thoroughly gasted bu this production of shorts. Except for the part recorded with a live audience the acting and sound was more than acceptable. The music and sound effects were very well done and not distracting at all as I feared they would be. The sound production in general was top notch and the players sounded as if they were enjoying themselves as much or more than I.

Credit worthy if you have to. When I listened it was included with audible subscriptions.