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: News
Rediscovered: Writing Away in Arkham House
Autograph Hound Saturday again, but this time we ain’t got no John Hancock — we’ve got a book stamp. You know we could begin knocking out a series — a long series — of Book Stamp Saturdays or Mondays or … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Buford Pusser
Autograph Hound Saturday once again, and we spotlight a famous lawman. When I was in college at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I heard Buford Pusser would be signing clubs at a Ford dealership across town. Growing up … Continue reading
Posted in Film, News
Tagged Autographs, Breaker Morant, Brian Leno, Buford Pusser, Buford Pusser Museum, Joe Don Baker, MTSU, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Walking Tall
Hammett: More Spadework from Coggins
Mark Coggins drops me a note to say, “I’ve a second Spade story, “The Russian Egg” in Eclectica Magazine which follows immediately from the first. “It has a little to say about the backstory of Gutman’s daughter.” Mark also supplies … Continue reading
Mort: In Memoriam Bruce Townley
I didn’t mention it at the time, but Bruce Townley died on October 17, 2024 — one of the more brutal endings I know of, fell in his apartment on Washington near Polk, couldn’t get up (yeah, just like the … Continue reading
Rediscovered: 50 Years of Gangland’s Doom
The crew at The Shadowed Circle magazine just released a commemorative 50th anniversary edition of a landmark in Shadow studies. You’ll remember that in addition to the magazine not long ago they brought out the excellent omnibus The Shadowed Circle … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Frank Eisgruber Jr, H. Warner Munn, James Patterson, Robert Weinberg, The Shadow, The Shadowed Circle Compendium, Will Murray
Rediscovered: Woman Chaser on Blu-Ray
Got a note from Joe McSpadden that the film version of Charles Willeford’s novel The Woman Chaser, which he produced, is now — finally — on Blu-Ray. Don’t think it ever made it to DVD, only appearing long-ago as a … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Joe McSpadden, Patrick Warburton, The Woman Chaser
Hammett: Mockingbird Joins Early What Could be Legions
Mark Coggins, big Hammett fan (and crime novelist, etc & etc) just dropped me a note to say: “Hammett’s probably spinning in his grave, but I joined Mr. Collins in attempting a Spade story, published at Eclectica Magazine. “Floyd Thursby’s hotel … Continue reading
Mort: McGinnis
Brian Leno has prepared himself for decades with an ever increasing stock of John Hancocks, now coming in handy to memorialize people as they fall. For this particular Autograph Hound Saturday he offers: I know I don’t get out much … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Chandler Machine
Remember last year when a bunch of stuff that belonged to Raymond Chandler went on the block? Everything from drafts of fantasy stories to the typewriter he used during his Last Stand writing Playback? Turns out that none other than … Continue reading
