Dead Evidence

Quite likely one of the most hyped—and most mysterious—Black Mask authors to ever appear in its pages, Ed Lybeck made his debut as one of editor Joesph Shaw’s new faces in the wake of Dashiell Hammett’s departure. For Black Mask, Lybeck penned the hard-boiled stories of Francis St. Xavier Harrigan, a former gunman-turned-reporter for the New York Leader.Though his duration as a Black Mask author was brief, his status as one of its greatest alums was certified by his inclusion in the historic retrospective of Black Mask, The Hard-boiled Omnibus. This edition collects—for the first time—the entirety of Lybeck’s Black Mask output. Includes an all-new introduction by pulp historian Will Murray.