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

Author: Otto Penzler

Narrator: Pete Larkin, Carol Monda, Alan Sklar

Unabridged: 7 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/06/2011


Synopsis

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

About Otto Penzler

Otto Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, founded The Mysterious Press in 1975, now an imprint at Grove/Atlantic, and publishes classic crime fiction through MysteriousPress.com. Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, MWA's Ellery Queen Award, and the Raven Award. He has been given Lifetime Achievement awards by Noircon and the Strand Magazine.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Forrest on August 16, 2016

Much weaker than the other installments I've listened to in this series. I didn't care for the reading of the first story at all, and gave up on another story that was bogged down in racial stereotypes. Oh well. Hoping #5 is better.......more

Goodreads review by Becca on October 02, 2023

This series was written during a different time. These short story mysteries are fun to listen to. Classic old detective noir. The overt racism and stereotypes get more than a bit cringeworthy. But again, for better or worse, these were written in a different time. On the plus side we have come a lo......more