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: It’s Gotta Be Xmas
Now I notice that Amazon is offering Eph Book — which is to say, Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years — at 11% off retail. Will they do the limbo and go lower? I have no idea.
Rediscovered: Eph Book 5% Off
Just noticed that Amazon has knocked 5% off the retail on Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years, if you go for deals. Must be some Xmas shopping thing. Or an algorithm gone wild.
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
