Black Mask 4: The Parrot That Wouldn't Talk: And Other Crime Fiction from the Legendary Magazine

by Otto Penzler Narrated by Carol Monda, Alan Sklar, Jeff Gurner, Oliver Wyman, Pete Larkin

Overview

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by “the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine” (Booklist).

Otto Penzler selected and wrote introductions to the best of the best, the darkest of these dark, vintage stories for the collection The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories. Now that collection is available for the first time on audio.

Includes:

“Bracelets” by Katherine Brocklebank; read by Carol Monda

“Diamonds Mean Death” by Thomas Walsh; read by Alan Sklar

“Murder in the Ring” by Raoul Whitfield; read by Jeff Gurner

“The Parrot That Wouldn't Talk” by Walter C. Brown; read by Pete Larkin

“Let the Dead Alone” by Merle Constiner; read by Oliver Wyman

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2012 - AudioFile

With this collection, fourth in a series of 1930s pulp detective stories originally published in “Black Mask” magazine, listeners are taken back to the times of gangsters and gumshoes. The narrators’ styles are reminiscent of the swagger, punch, and sass of old-time radio crime dramas. Alan Sklar’s resonant baritone especially stands out. Though the settings and characters are dated, the stories’ themes of greed and lust for power are timeless, and some them are surprisingly offbeat. The enthusiastic narrators don’t miss a trick. Like B-movie actors stepping up to their stylized roles, they propel these stories along with cleverness and suspense, making this production just plain fun. F.T. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2012 - AudioFile

With this collection, fourth in a series of 1930s pulp detective stories originally published in “Black Mask” magazine, listeners are taken back to the times of gangsters and gumshoes. The narrators’ styles are reminiscent of the swagger, punch, and sass of old-time radio crime dramas. Alan Sklar’s resonant baritone especially stands out. Though the settings and characters are dated, the stories’ themes of greed and lust for power are timeless, and some them are surprisingly offbeat. The enthusiastic narrators don’t miss a trick. Like B-movie actors stepping up to their stylized roles, they propel these stories along with cleverness and suspense, making this production just plain fun. F.T. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171333539
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Series:	Black Mask , #4
Edition description:	Unabridged

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