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
Category Archives: Frisco
Frisco Beat: A “Lost Book” Mystery
Every couple of years or so I get asked about a book someone has read and forgotten the title of — almost always a book that is a mystery set in San Francisco. Hey, you do the seminal statement, people … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Tamony Bookplate
Haefele’s Heretics got shaken up some for the run up to his new book Lovecraft: The Great Tales. Morgan “The Morgman” Holmes was busy with something else. Brian Leno’s computer died out from under him and he didn’t want to … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit
Tagged Arthur Machen, Book Collecting, Haefele's Heretics, John D. Haefele, Kevin Cook, Knopf yellowback Machens, Peter J. Tamony, Wallace Smith
Rediscovered: Every Copy of an Edition
I think I had my longtime pal Donald Sidney-Fryer really going for about two or three weeks late last year, when I told him I was thinking about collecting the entire print run — a reported 2045 copies — of … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Last Seen
Kent Harrington has some promo lined up before the May publication of his new San Francisco crime novel Last Seen. First one coming up in Texas (and the virtual world). Kent says, “I am having a Zoom event for my … Continue reading
Rediscovered: At NoirCon (2012)
At least I presume the image above connects to NoirCon. That’s how I read the clews. I only attended the very first NoirCon, in 2008, where I was amazed that for the Charles Willeford “panel” they had some academic talking … Continue reading
Hammett: Pick-Up on Post Street
Sitting in his rooms in 891 Post Street in San Francisco one of the star writers for the wood-pulp Black Mask cooked up a yarn that would make him the name to conjure with for closing in on a century … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: A Slice of Life 1979-90
Our man on the street, Nathan Ward — keeping his eye on the New York scene — sends along his latest find: “I liked this evocation of San Francisco from 79-90 by the novelist Rachel Kushner in the current New … Continue reading
891 Post: The Reign of Wild Bill Arney, Remembered
Just got a note from Bill Arney, who you’ll remember as the longtime Keeper of the Sacred Shrine, i.e. Hammett’s apartment in 891 Post Street — where a little classic titled The Maltese Falcon was written. Bill just got a … Continue reading
Two-Gun Bob: From Sherlockian Shelves
Brian Leno noticed a copy of my 1984 litcrit anthology on Robert E. Howard — The Dark Barbarian — on the block at eBay for $150 or make an offer. Hunt around and you can find copies much cheaper, but … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Arkham House, Autographs, Baker Street Irregulars, Bouchercon, Firsts, John D. Haefele, Jon Lellenberg, Ted Schulz
Frisco Beat: When They Renamed Monroe
Brian Wallace just sent me the link to an article about renaming San Francisco streets — with a little section about Monroe Street getting the new moniker of Dashiell Hammett Street. The article writer doesn’t seem to be aware of … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco
Tagged Brian Wallace, Dashiell Hammett Street, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, literary streets, Monroe Street
