Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories

Weighing in at two and a half pounds, Otto Penzler’s detective fiction anthology, The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, is not for the faint of heart.

This anthology is comprised of 50 stories originally published in The Black Mask Magazine, a pulp fiction publication running from 1920 to 1951. Mysteries run the gamut from robberies to murders to the supernatural.

Featuring the best of the best, many of these stories were expanded into famous novels, screenplays or television series.