Search donherron.com
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.”
Category Archives: Dash
Hammett: Would You Believe?
Yeah, sure, Hammett gets mentioned on Jeopardy! all the time. But do you think that’s his only link to the pop culture?
Hammett: Locke’s One-Liner on Rhea/Wilmer
After John Locke hit the Up and Down These Mean Streets scene late last year, I got to steer him to various interesting moments in the extensive backlog of posts. One of them was to the bizarre idea that Gutman’s … Continue reading
Hammett: Another Sneaking into Jeopardy! Moment
I’m keeping a falcon-like eye on the current Jeopardy! battle of the super-champions, to see if Hammett pops up. I bet they all know the difference between Hammett’s Sam Spade and Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. But on January 7 in the … Continue reading
Rediscovered: More Ace and Parker
Coincidentally, the topic of Ace Atkins and Robert B. Parker also popped up in the last few days in exchanges with Kevin Cook, noted pulp and book collector. “At this point in time Parker is still an industry,” Kevin observed, … Continue reading
Hammett: Angel Eyes
Tenderloin Terry Zobeck seeks out the Shadow of Hammett everywhere, and he tells me: I think we’ve discussed Ace Atkins’ continuation of the Spenser novels before. I usually don’t like such things, but he capture’s Parker’s style uncannily well. The new … Continue reading
Hammett: v. Carroll John Daly
Digging around in old partially mocked-up posts, I found another one which appears to be from circa late 2016 or early 2017: Last October I got in a note from hardboiled pulp hound Terry Zobeck, in which he reported: Today’s mail brought … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged Black Mask, Carroll John Daly, Race Williams, Terry Zobeck, The Snarl of the Beast
Hammett: Sneakin’ onto Jeopardy!
The December 27 2019 airing of Jeopardy! (S36E80) didn’t feature any Hammett Q’s or A’s, but the creator of the short fat Op shadowed his way onto the scene anyway. During the sequence where Alex Trebek interviews the contestants, the … Continue reading
Hammett: “If I Had Been a Black Mask Reader in 1926”
I told John Locke that once his post on Hammett’s early years in the writing business hit the blog, if he noticed any places where he wanted to tweak a word or whatever, just to let me know and I’d … Continue reading
Hammett: “Brigid Skates”
Back in 2009 I had a potential brush with the Court of Historical Review in San Francisco, which plays with old crimes — for fun, they re-try them. The loose plan was that I would provide background info on evidence … Continue reading
Hammett: From Poisonville to Red Harvest, “Chapter One”
A couple of months ago I was prowling through the inventory of Mean Streets posts to salvage as yet unpublished material from the backlog. A few tentative ideas that got to skeletal mock-up stage I just deleted — weeding the … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged Black Mask, Frederic Dannay, Jo Hammett, Paul Herman, PulpFest, Red Harvest, Richard Layman, Terry Zobeck, The Big Book of the Continental Op
