Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
Willeford
The Book
Monthly Archives: August 2019
Rediscovered: Arthur O. Friel
Looks like Autograph Hound Super-Sunday keeps the theme of Writers for the Pulp Adventure going. I got in a note from frequent Hound Dog Kevin Cook, commenting on Brian Leno posts from a couple of weekends ago. “More great posts on … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, REH
Tagged Adventure, Arthur O. Friel, Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Centaur Books Time-Lost Series, Colonel Percy Fawcett, Donald M. Grant, Kevin Cook
Rediscovered: A James Ellroy John Hancock
How about allowing an Apprentice Autograph Hound loose on the Mean Streets to run with those battle-scarred gray wolves Brian Leno and Kevin Cook? Got a note in from Jeff Mariotte — obviously a lifelong book collector, like most people I … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, Tour
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, James Ellroy, Jeff Mariotte, Michael Connelly
Rediscovered: Walt Coburn
Autograph Hound Saturday once more, and we’ll allow Brian Leno to wax nostalgic (Ubi Sunt! Ubi Sunt!) for a moment. Here’s Brian on the thrilling days of yesteryear, or childhood — that sort of thing: “I believe I’ve told you a … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Adventure, Autographs, Brian Leno, Harold S. Goldsmith, Harry Steeger, literary suicides, Walt Coburn
Sinister Cinema: The Boss Digs Cockfighter
Michael Chong keeps an eye peeled for any online mention of Willeford, and reports in that “The Boss has good taste!” Yes, Cockfighter makes the short list of Springsteen’s fave movies — or, maybe the dude is just another one of us … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: “Mr. Worley in 1963”
Just got a note in from Keith Young, yet another student in the classes once taught by William Worley, author of the classic San Francisco mystery My Dead Wife. Here’s Keith, verbatim: “A recollection from his class at Lowell. One day … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit
Tagged Keith Young, Lowell High School, My Dead Wife, San Francisco Mysteries, William Worley
Rediscovered: ERB — Name/ Place/ Date
Brian Leno jumps aboard with a cameo appearance in today’s Autograph Hound Super-Sunday tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs. The regret expressed in ERB’s last months in re: “I am so ashamed of my writing since I have been ill. I used to have a … Continue reading
Rediscovered: George Allan England Ne Plus Ultra
Autograph Hound Saturday again, and Kevin Cook is back at the wheel. He notes that Brian Leno, wily John Hancock hunter, took him a little bit by surprise the past weekends: “I have to admit that I was completely focusing on books … Continue reading
Remembered: Wild Bill
My pal, the gambler Brian Leno, just gave me a head’s up: “Today it’s 143 years since Wild Bill Hickok cashed in his chips.” Gone. Not forgotten, by any measure.
