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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Death Lit: Ace Atkins Returns!
Ace Atkins is returning to “M” is for Mystery in San Mateo for a signing of his latest novel, The Ranger, on Tuesday June 14, 7 p.m. Unless I’m jumped and blackjacked into some noir limbo, I plan to be there. … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Ace Atkins, Book Collecting, Bouchercon, Hammett Tour Book, Philip Marlowe, Robert B. Parker, Spenser, Vince Emery
Hammett: More on “Death”
Prompted by Terry Zobeck’s post on “Death and Company,” I pulled out my Dell Mapback edition of The Return of the Continental Op and checked through all his corrections. Took a little bit of work, since Terry’s page and line numbers refer to … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News, Tour
Tagged "Death and Company", "Mike Alec or Rufus", "The Creeping Siamese", "The Farewell Murder", "The Thin Man", "Women Politics and Murder", 408 Turk, 620 Eddy, 891 Post, 895 Post, Bill Arney, Black Mask, Cap Shaw, Dell Mapbacks, Frederic Dannay, Hammett Tour Book, Pru Whitfield, Pulps, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, The Glass Key, The Return of the Continental Op
Hammett: Give that Man a Cigar
How about a surprise for Hammett’s 117th birthday? As you may or may not know, researchers have managed to turn up almost zero footage of Hammett on film, and so far not a single audio recording. Doesn’t mean there’s nothing … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, News
Tagged American Masters, Bill Arney, Harold Arlen, Leo Grin, Vincente Minnelli
Hammett: The Original “Death”
As announced, Terry Zobeck is on board to let Hammett fans know exactly which words and sentences Frederic Dannay cut from the original magazine texts as he collected Hammett’s short stories into digest-sized paperbacks — in effect, Terry is reconstructing the closest … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit
Tagged "Death and Company", Black Mask, Frederic Dannay, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, The Return of the Continental Op, Zobeck Series One
Hammett: The Dannay Edits
Terry Zobeck returns for another Guest Blog post, an overview of Things to Come. Inspired by his research into restoring the pure text on “This King Business,” Terry has decided to dig into his collection and show us what Hammett wrote before … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged "This King Business", EQMM, Frederic Dannay, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Tour: Two More in May
Only two more Sundays left in May, two more chances to put your gumshoes on the mean streets before I jump over to other things in the month of June, and maybe July, as well. . . . For the … Continue reading
Two-Gun Bob: Keeping an Iron Hand In
As I was saying not long ago, I keep my hand in on things Robert E. Howard. A couple of items have been announced already, and I believe at least one more I contributed a tidbit to will be popped out as … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Still Dashiel. . .
As of last night, the street sign at the bottom of Dashiell Hammett Street still reads “Dashiel Hammet.” The sign at the top of the street is the original, correctly spelled version. And I did get a new theory about … Continue reading
Death Lit: The Black (Mask) Bird
While I’m not doing a regular crime and mystery review column any more, and you’d have a very hard time talking me into the idea again, I still manage to knock out seven or eight standalone reviews every year in … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News, Tour
Tagged AHMM, Big Read, Black Mask, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, Falcon from Knopf, Jo Gar, Otto Penzler, pure texts, Raoul Whitfield, Raymond Chandler
Hammett: Lost Stories, Found
After his first Guest Blogger spot, tracking down the pure text for Hammett’s Continental Op yarn “This King Business,” Terry Zobeck returns with another Adventure in Collecting. Here’s Terry: Ever since I read Richard Layman’s 1981 Hammett biography Shadow Man, and … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged "A Tale of Two Women", "Another Perfect Crime", "Death and Company", "First Aide to Murder", "The Farewell Murder", "The Judge Laughed Last", "The Man Who Loved Ugly Women", "The Whosis Kid", "Women Politics and Murder", Experience, Mike Humbert, newspaper action, Richard Layman, Saturday Home Magazine, SF Examiner, Terry Zobeck, Valentine, Vince Emery
