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
Hammett: When Jeopardy! Dropped the H Bomb
I’ve had this one hidden away almost all year, waiting to ease under the Xmas tree. . . . Or: Would you believe I was so daunted when I saw it that I froze solid? Dropped as if I had … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Jeopardy!, Lillian Hellman, Raymond Chandler, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Tenderloin
Rediscovered: Death Lit on the Block
If you picked up my most recent book Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years 1937-1973, I am here to slip you the word that no longer is it the latest title to leap to life. The newest of the new … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, DMac, Film, Frisco, Lit, News, REH, SFSC, Tour, Willeford
Tagged Arkham House Ephemera The Classic Years 1937-1973, Book Collecting, Death Lit Essays and Reviews 1974-2024
Rediscovered: Chandler Stuff on the Block
Brian Wallace popped me notice of a big auction of Raymond Chandler manuscripts and personal items, “under the hammer of Doyle” — on December 6. That gives you a few days to scrape some loot together and prepare to jump … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Arkham Ephemera at $5 Off
That was fast. The $10 off sale at Amazon on Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years only lasted a couple of days. Now they’ve got it at $35.28, creeping back toward the original $40 retail tag. If you want to … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House Ephemera The Classic Years 1937-1973, Book Collecting, Terence McVicker
Rediscovered: Arkham Ephemera at $10 Off
It went live Halloween night and eight days ago began shipping out orders at $40 per copy. Now Amazon has slashed the price to $30. I’m not saying that later they might not cut it down to $25 or $20 … Continue reading
Rediscovered: 100 Years Ago
Noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook had to send in a note in re: Abe Merritt’s most famous work — if you care to join him in the festivities, pull your copies of the pulp out and have at … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Arkham House Ephemera — The Classic Years
Ready to order, the book on the Classic Era of Arkham House Ephemera I’ve been promising for years awaits you. 150 Items covered (with 3 playfully hidden away for the readers who like to have a little fun with their … Continue reading
Mort: Scott Connors
As Halloween breaks I get word that Scott Connors — Young Scott — has died. Don’t know if he died on Halloween itself or just before. The Scott of yesteryear would have appreciated going out on such an eldritch and … Continue reading
Rediscovered: House of Bogart
Brian Leno keeps getting new autograph material all the time, every week, sometimes every day — he even has stuff crawling out of his immeasurable horde, practically attacking him. Here he is with another episode pulled straight from the life … Continue reading
Posted in Film, News
Tagged Algernon Blackwood, Autographs, Bogie, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doug Fairbanks, Guy Bogart, Lucy Bogart, Valentine
Hammett: P. I. Sam, Reanimated
Brian Wallace keeps sending me the news that when the copyright expires early in 2025, Max Allan Collins has a deal with Hard Case Crime to pick up Sam Spade in (dum-dum): The Return of The Maltese Falcon Of course, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Brian Wallace, Hard Case Crime, James Patterson, Joe Gores, Max Allan Collins, Sam Spade pastiches
