"Blackmailers Don't Shoot," from the December 1933 issue of Black Mask, was Raymond Chandler's first published story. I re-read it recently and found it shockingly good. Shocking that Chandler was that good on his very first story, and he just kept getting better. The hero is a tough guy named Mallory. He's recently come from Chicago to L.A., and though one of the characters asks if he's a private detective, it's never really stated one way or the other. Because this one is told in third-person, no one ever tried to turn it into a Marlowe story. No one, that is, until HBO adapted it for their TV series back in 1986.
All drawings and paintings from Black Mask Magazine are copyright © 1923 to 1953 by Keith Alan Deutsch as successor-in-interest, and conservator of all copyrights to the original publishers and copyright registrars: Pro-Distributors Publishing Company, Inc, and Popular Publications Inc. All copyrights © renewed 1951 to 1981.
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