First appearing on newsstands in late 1952, Manhunt was the acknowledged sucessor to Black Mask, which had ceased publication the year before, as the venue for high-quality crime fiction. The Best of Manhunt includes 39 of the original stories, a foreword by Lawrence Block and Afterword by Barry N. Malzberg, as well as an introduction to the tortured history of the magazine by editor, Jeff Vorzimmer.