The Black Mask

# Museum Catalog Note

This issue features "The Tenth Clue," a complete mystery-detective novelette by Dashiell Hammett. A Continental Detective Agency operative arrives at Leopold Gantvoort's home for an appointment after receiving a threatening-letter complaint. Hours later, Charles Gantvoort receives word that his father has been murdered—his skull crushed with a portable typewriter found in his abandoned automobile in Golden Gate Park.

Detective O'Gar reveals the scene: Gantvoort's pockets turned inside out, scattered belongings including personal effects, nearly a hundred dollars, and a typewritten message signed "E.B." demanding restitution for theft from Paris in 1902. Evidence accumulates: a mysterious new wallet containing newspaper clippings with cryptic messages, a list of six names and addresses across American cities, blond hair, and cartridges with cut noses. The investigation turns toward the Dexters—Creda and Madden—whom Charles suspected of fortune hunting, while Emil Bonfils emerges as the likely perpetrator with twenty-one-year vendetta.