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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: Lit
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: Is Haefele’s First Book on the Block?
Currently on eBay from Gunnison of Adventure House — with a Buy It Now tag of $100 — you’ll find what may be John D. Haefele’s first book. Copy no. 41 of 45 numbered copies. He’s not sure — Haefele, … 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 Part Two
Not too long ago Brian Leno tipped me off to a blog devoted to Vincent Starrett, entered via a specific post about the famous book collector’s bookplates. I surfed around some, and quickly realized that blog fell under the same … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Don Webb, Haefele's Heretics, Henrik Harksen, John D. Haefele, Morgan Holmes, Vincent Starrett, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire
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
Rediscovered: A Cyclopean Memorial to Lovecraft
Brian Leno timed this one nicely! I thought he might take another week or two for a formal (or as formal as Leno gets) review of Lovecraft: The Great Tales. But no. For the eighty-fourth anniversary of the death of … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Brian Leno, Farnsworth Wright, John D. Haefele, Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers, William Hope Hodgson
Rediscovered: Almost Done, But for Reading the Index
Brian Leno pokes merrily along in John D. Haefele’s Lovecraft: The Great Tales, and mentions something he found on page 715: Just finished the “Haunter of the Dark” chapter, which reminded me tomorrow is the anniversary of HPL’s death. Last … Continue reading
Rediscovered: So Far, So Good
I told Brian Leno he could do a formal review for Mean Streets of John D. Haefele’s Lovecraft: The Great Tales whenever he finishes. But of course, no one will be sitting down and reading that monster of litcrit in … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, REH
Tagged A. Merritt, Brian Leno, Clark Ashton Smith, Farnsworth Wright, Frank Owen, Hazel Heald, Henry S. Whitehead, John D. Haefele, Lovecraft, Rob Roehm, S.T. Joshi, Weird Tales, William Hope Hodgson
