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
Author Archives: Don
Rediscovered: Og
Autograph Hound Saturday yet again, and Brian Leno goes all caveman on us. I’ve always liked cavemen. Here’s a quick note from Brian: Thought you might like to see the Og books, all inscribed by Irving Crump to the late … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Charles Livingston Bull, Gerry de la Ree, Irving Crump, Og
Rediscovered: It’s Gotta Be Xmas
Now I notice that Amazon is offering Eph Book — which is to say, Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years — at 11% off retail. Will they do the limbo and go lower? I have no idea.
Rediscovered: Eph Book 5% Off
Just noticed that Amazon has knocked 5% off the retail on Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years, if you go for deals. Must be some Xmas shopping thing. Or an algorithm gone wild.
Rediscovered: A MetaNoir Worth Another Mention
I’m poking along, compiling another LitCrit MegaPack of my selected essays and reviews. Just scanned through the over 200 reviews I did for Publishers Weekly. Almost all short. Very tight word count. One that caught my eye was Noir by … Continue reading
Posse McMillan: 5 Million Years Ago
Dennis McMillan phoned this morning and we caught up. After I got off the line I popped him the info on The Burnt Shadow and The Burnt Machens, where he played a role. Then he sent back this photo — … Continue reading
Hammett: In the Jeopardy! Matrix
Obviously deeply imbedded in the neurons that summon up clews for Jeopardy! What can I say, the ghost of Hammett strikes again. On November 13, S42E49, in the first round. Category: Whosolvedit? The $400 clew: With the name of a … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Place of Hawks (Not the House of Arkham)
Brian Leno has nabbed another couple of items for his bulging shelves — or you could think of it as three, maybe four items. The book Place of Hawks. The belly-band on the dustwrapper. A letter from August Derleth, a … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Alfred Dashiell, Arkham House, August Derleth, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Clycde Beck, Detroit News, Edward J. O;Brien, John D. Haefele
Rediscovered: An Audio/Video Review
John D. Haefele came across a review of our book on Arkham House ephemera on YouTube. “What a thoughtful and perceptive video-review of our book,” he wrote, “just discovered and very much appreciated!” And he got a comment from Leo … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Book Collecting, Infinite Text, John D. Haefele, Leo Grin, The Cimmerian Press, Vincent Starrett, YouTube
Hammett: The Grit Conundrum
Or, The Return of Terry “Pure Texts” Zobeck! Apparently there’s no end to the fine-tuning on issues in re: pure texts. Take it away, Terry: Here’s another example of a Hammett story reprinted by Frederic Dannay where the edits predate … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "The Judge Laughed Last", "The New Racket", EQMM, Frederic Dannay, Grit, Mysterious Bookshop, Otto Penzler, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
