The Black Mask

# Museum Catalog Note

This August 1922 issue of a pulp mystery magazine contains fiction by established authors in the detective and crime genre. "Blueberry Pie" by Thyra Samter Winslow opens the issue as a complete mystery novelette involving a young woman, Irma Martin, who becomes unsettled reading a newspaper account of a man's recent electrocution for the murder of a woman named Irene Graham. The narrative shifts to detail the Dennison case itself: a man who murdered his unmarried companion and staged the crime scene to resemble a burglary, leaving incriminating evidence despite careful planning. Other stories include "The Phantom Check" by George Bruce Marquis, "The Vault" by Murray Leinster, and "Exterior to the Evidence" (Part V) by J. S. Fletcher, among numerous shorter mystery tales. The magazine features work by writers including Harold Ward, George W. Breuker, and others working in detective and crime-mystery modes. Advertisorial content includes a promotion for synthetic gemstones marketed as diamond alternatives.