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: Lit
Hammett: “It”
Terry Zobeck springs back into action with a new posting, detailing the changes made to yet another Op adventure. Take it, Terry: This time around we look into the edits made to the obscure Continental Op story “It.” Obscure because it … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged "Death and Company", "It", "The Black Hat That Wasn't There", Black Mask, Frederic Dannay, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Hammett: More Rhea and Wilmer
Bill Arney has been busy knocking out a new series of Cheese Theatre episodes, but after holding down the Sam Spade apartment in 891 Post Street for years he keeps his hand in on Hammett stuff — and just popped these notes in as … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, Cheese Theatre, Mike Humbert, Rhea Gutman, Wilmer Cook
Hammett: Rhea, Wilmer, or. . . ?
Mike Humbert refreshes his name in my Tag Cloud by sending in a link to a bit about The Maltese Falcon he’s found hanging out in the web — as he notes, it is an “Off-the-wall theory, but interesting. . . .” The … Continue reading
Hammett: Two New Collections On the Way
Our peripatetic Guest Blogger Terry Zobeck roams the mean streets looking for news, when he’s not laired up pulling pure Hammett texts out of moldering pulp magazines. Here’s Terry: Last month I was in St. Louis for Bouchercon — the … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News
Tagged Bouchercon, Mr. Dynamite, New Black Mask, On the Make, Otto Penzler, Radio, Richard Layman, Terry Zobeck, The Adventures of Sam Spade, Thin Man
Hammett: “Albert Pastor at Home” and “His Brother’s Keeper”
Our frequent Guest Blogger Tenderloin Terry Zobeck returns — finishing off his examination of the first set of pure text Hammett stories he had in his files, to see what sort of blue pencil Frederic Dannay put them to as he assembled ten paperback … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged "Albert Paster at Home", "Death and Company", "His Brother's Keeper", "It", Black Mask, Collier's, Esquire, Frederic Dannay, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Hollywood Beat: 7741 Hollywood Blvd
Before the money from The Getaway allowed them to move closer to Musso & Frank, Jim Thompson and his family lived a little less than a mile away from the front doors, on the same street — far enough out to … Continue reading
Hollywood Beat: 1817 Hillcrest
The place Jim Thompson was living at the time of his death — check out a reputable source, but my understanding is that he died in this building — is roughly ten or twelve blocks from Musso & Frank. To … Continue reading
Hollywood Beat: 1922 Whitley
When I got back to Hollywood to stop in Musso & Frank for the third time, I was really curious to check into what Dennis McMillan had told me — that Jim Thompson was a regular there, drinking at the … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Film, Lit
Tagged Craig Graham, Jim Thompson, Musso & Frank, Peckinpah, Robert Mitchum, Robert Polito, Steve McQueen, The Getaway
Hollywood Beat: More Musso
Finally, I got a date set-up — Saturday August 20, 2011 — where I could hit Musso & Frank with Craig Graham, the guy who first told me about the place. Craig reserved a table with a view of the bar. … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Film, Lit
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Craig Graham, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Jim Thompson, Jimmy Durante, Leo Grin, Lillian Hellman, Musso & Frank, Robert Polito, Steve McQueen, Vagabond Books
