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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: News
Two-Gun Bob: June 11, 1926 — 1936 — 2022
Today marks the anniversary of the suicide by gunshot at age thirty of Texas author Robert E. Howard, sitting in his Chevy outside the family home in Cross Plains. Our resident Autograph Hound Brian Leno lays out another John Hancock … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Boris Karloff, Brian Leno, Collier's, Hugh Wiley, literary suicides, San Francisco Mysteries, Steve Eng
Rediscovered: The Death of Kafka and the Triumph of Brod
Brian Leno returns with an autograph to memorialize another anniversary — “an autograph from 1932 with a quotation from a certain Rabbi Tarfon, a saintly man who lived around 100 A.D. The translation is beyond my attempts.” Here’s Brian: On … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Autographs, Brian Leno, Dora Diamant, Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa, Max Brod
Hammett: More Hawkman
Remember back in 2016 when the DC comics show Legends of Tomorrow debuted on the CW? Seems like only yesterday, and now it has been canceled, the last sad dregs streaming off into oblivion. . . . But hey, I … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, News
Tagged Brian Wallace, Dominic Purcell, Hawkman, Joe Kubert, Legends of Tomorrow, Murphy Anderson, Prison Break, The CW
Rediscovered: The Death of Sax
Arch-Autograph Hound Brian Leno hauls out a couple of John Hancocks to mark an anniversary, including one from the iconic Anna May Wong, who just got her own American quarterpiece, if you prefer to collect coins. Here’s Brian: Sixty-three years … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Anna May Wong, Autographs, Brian Leno, Fu-Manchu, Joan Bradshaw, Joseph Clement Coll, Sax Rohmer
Hammett: The Noir Croissant
Brian Wallace updates the news regarding Clive Owen playing Sam Spade, after Sam has moved to France, it’s circa 1963, and a plot is brewing. First, The Ronin blurbs the project and speculates who might pick it up — they … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Primeval Arkham House Ephemera
John D. Haefele and I, marching deeper into the thick of the Arkham ephemera jungle, plug away on a book intended to cover each and every Item from the Classic Years when August Derleth and Donald Wandrei were in the … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, John D. Haefele, Julie Matthews
Tour: Inquiries Welcome
For the Dashiell Hammett Tour I have drifted over largely into doing Tours by Appointment. Kind of inevitable. Easier. Better money. After 45 years, bound to happen. And I still meet people who ask me how many times a day … Continue reading
Mort: Fred Ward
After the fact, word drifted in that Fred Ward died on Sunday May 9 at the age of 79. Got to note it here since — as pictured above — Fred was the first to essay the role of Charles … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Another “Lost” Arkham
As usual, I was sitting around minding my own business, collecting Arkham House ephemera, when I realized I might have spotted another “lost” Arkham House book. For decades fans have been noting books that once may have made it into … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Charles Beaumont, John D. Haefele, Mildred Clingerman
