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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: August 2014
Hammett: Death of The Midget Bandit — Gutshot in a Prison Break!
And how else would The Midget Bandit have gone out, except as an authentic gangsta? The mug shots — the final mug shots — this time come from his stint in Walla Walla. And here once more is Midget authority … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Edwin Ware, Fresno California, prison breaks, Seattle, The Midget Bandit, Walla Walla, Warren Harris
Hammett: The Midget Bandit vs. The Smiling Bandit
Edwin Ware — The Midget Bandit — was by no means the only yegg in his day to pose for a mug shot. Above you’ll see Roy Gardner — from a Sacramento, California arrest. Who was Gardner, you ask? Here’s … Continue reading
Hammett: Crime Wave of The Midget Bandit!
Over this week Guest Blogger Warren Harris has sketched in the life and criminal career of The Midget Bandit — today he returns to the California crime spree and some of the lurid headlines it generated. And here’s Warren: As The … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Edwin Ware, Fresno California, Roy Gardner, The Midget Bandit, Warren Harris
Hammett: Before Edwin Ware Became The Midget Bandit
Yesterday you got the detailed scoop on The Midget Bandit, his California crime spree, and his encounter with Hammett. Today Warren Harris returns to give you more of the fascinating backstory of one of the many, many criminals Hammett encountered … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News
Tagged Edwin Ware, Famous Players-Laskey, Folsom Prison, Fresno California, Halifax Explosion, San Quentin, Warren Harris
Hammett: Edwin “Midget” Ware
Yesterday I told you we were going to give you an ID on The Midget Bandit — and here it is. As direct as a fist in the face. If you ever had the slightest curiosity about The Midget Bandit, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News
Tagged Edwin Ware, Fresno California, Michael Fitzgerald, Modern Library Falcon, Pinkerton's, Stockton California, The Midget Bandit, Warren Harris, Wilmer Cook
Hammett: Midget Bandit Week!
If you’re any kind of serious fan of the writings of Dashiell Hammett, you know that Hammett modeled the gunsel Wilmer Cook in The Maltese Falcon, published in first edition hardcovers by Knopf in 1930, on a crook known as The Midget Bandit. … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News
Tagged Bogie, Elisha Cook Jr., John Huston, Modern Library Falcon, PEAPS, Stockton California, The Midget Bandit, Warren Harris, Wilmer Cook
Rediscovered: HPL at 124
I was well aware that yesterday was birthday 124 for H.P. Lovecraft — been doing a lot of rereading of The Old Gent in the past year or so, even grabbed a moment in memoriam to decipher some of his squiggly … Continue reading
Hollywood Beat: Becoming an Instant Icon
Just got a note from Nathan Ward, who is in LA doing more on-the-ground research for his biography of Dashiell Hammett — needless to say, as soon as that one is available I’ll alert everyone who surfs Up and Down These Mean … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit
Tagged Bacall, Ernest Hemingway, Nathan Ward, To Have and Have Not, William Faulkner
Hollywood Beat: An Icon Among Icons
Image above — of course — Lauren Bacall being lit up by Bogie in that classic of San Francisco film noir, Dark Passage. As everyone from The Hollywood Reporter on down has been saying, when Bacall died on Tuesday August 12, … Continue reading
