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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.”
Category Archives: Dash
Hammett: Another “Dead Yellow Women” (Heavily Illustrated)
Today Evan Lewis uncovers yet another newsprint serialization of an Op yarn, beginning November 29, 1942 in the Albuquerque Journal — almost 79 years ago exactly. The yarn in question is the excellent “Dead Yellow Women” from Black Mask, November 1925 … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "Dead Yellow Women", Albuquerque Journal, Black Mask, Evan Lewis, newspaper action
Hammett: Yet Another “Clew”
For those keeping track, Evan Lewis has uncovered from the newsprint of yesteryear yet another reprint of Hammett’s Op yarn “The Tenth Clew” — this one from the Deseret News in 1942. Plus he’s added a couple more installments to … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Wolf and Greek Go All Primeval
Our pal Morgan “The Morgman” Holmes has a dictum — either the product of his own profound deliberations or picked up over shots of whiskey in a seedy bar held together with vines and rattan somewhere on the outskirts of … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Before Adam, Clark Ashton Smith, George Sterling, Jack London, literary suicides, Lovecraft, Morgan Holmes, Popular Magazine, Vince Emery
Hammett: Some Jeopardy! Mojo?
It’s been a few months since Jeopardy! dipped into the Hammett clew pile, a sprawling mass of info and allusion that might well go on forever. On Monday October 11, they offered in the Double Jeopardy round a $400 clew, … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Mark Coggins on 891 Post and Bill Arney
Just got a note from crime writer Mark Coggins rounding up some stuff about the late Bill Arney on Twitter. One of the links offers Bill reading something by Mark on KQED. I bet there’s a lot of Bill’s voice … Continue reading
Hammett: Slick Dannay Blurbs from EQMM
Today Evan Lewis dropped Part 1 of a new series in which he shows off the little introductory blurbs Frederick Dannay gave to various Hammett stories as he reprinted them in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. They’re probably different than the … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Up in Spade’s Room
Thomas Burchfield just put up an article on the late great Bill Arney — especially useful because it first appeared in 2009 and contains lots of info on Bill’s movements in San Francisco. I’d almost forgotten the breakup with a … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, Hammett Cult in San Francisco, House of Fans, Maltese Falcon Society, Thomas Burchfield
Hammett: “The Judge Laughed Last”
A decade ago Terry Zobeck did the pure text treatment on the minor Hammett yarn “The Judge Laughed Last” — originally published in 1924 in Black Mask as “The New Racket” — but Evan Lewis has sleuthed out a good … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "The Judge Laughed Last", "The New Racket", Black Mask, Evan Lewis, Terry Zobeck
Mort: Bill Arney
It’s a sad day in Sam Spade’s San Francisco. Got a note from Mike Humbert last night to inform me that Bill Arney died yesterday morning, September 28 2021. As of now, I don’t know what got him. I’m kicking … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, Hammett Cult in San Francisco, Mike Humbert
Mort: William F. Nolan
A few days after the fact, word drifted in that William F. Nolan died, age 93, on July 15. I scanned some of the obits, all rightly selecting the science fiction novel Logan’s Run as the book of all his … Continue reading
