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: Tour
Rediscovered: More on Peter Corris
John Hocking adds — in re: his discovery of the Peter Corris detective story where I cameo as “Dan Swan” — “Yeah, I figured there was almost no way you could have missed the story, but the idea that you … Continue reading
Mort: Peter Corris
Got a note from John Hocking, reporting: “I’m reading The Big Drop, a collection of detective stories by the recently deceased Australian author Peter Corris. “It had been a while since I’d read any of his stuff, so it felt … Continue reading
Tour: The Worst-Air-Quality-on-the-Planet Walk
I would have thought the Age of Legendary Tours was over, but how was I to know that one day Frisco would be blanketed in smoke from Mike Humbert’s smoldering house in Paradise? Per all the news sources, the air quality … Continue reading
Tour: Photobombed!
In the pic above shot by Sue Montgomery I stand in front of the Flood Building, 870 Market, on October 28, waiting to see who’ll show up for the walk. And I’m not alone. Technically a true photobomb or by accident? You … Continue reading
Tour: Two Sundays in November
One Sunday tour left in October, then two more in November to wrap up the year. . . . The pic above came from Mario Ruiz, and he dates it to 2014, when he rolled down from Portland to walk the … Continue reading
Tour: Mentioned in the NYT Again
Or so I’m told. After the tour yesterday I dropped in on the Second Sunday gathering of local f&sf fans — the fanzine fans of yesteryear — since this round it was in the Elks Lodge bar near where the walk ends … Continue reading
Tour: Some (Semi-Complicated) October Walks
Shot above: standing on the n.e. corner of Geary and Mason for a tour by appointment with Sisters in Crime, Saturday August 5, 2017. Looking west out Geary, the old Geary Theatre looming above the first red car. . . … Continue reading
Posted in Tour
Tagged "Whosis Kid", Blanco's, Geary Street, Geary Theatre, Larkin Street, Mason Street, Olive Street, Sisters-in-Crime, Tenderloin
Frisco Beat: Alas, Poor Blanco’s! I Knew It, Horatio. . .
You know how it is, you go in for triple bypass surgery and someone figures you’re gone for sure, The Defender of the Faith is down by the wayside, and it’s now safe to paint over the tragically faded lettering … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Tour
Tagged Blanco's, Great American Music Hall, Larkin Street, Olive Street
Sinister Cinema: Heresy
In February, when I was generally distracted, the publisher Vince Emery passed along a link to a Hollywood Reporter article on the possible or upcoming movie of the Charles Willeford novel The Burnt Orange Heresy. Who knows if it’ll make it … Continue reading
Posted in Film, News, Tour, Willeford
Tagged Burnt Orange Heresy, Christopher Walken, Hollywood Reporter, John Leguizamo, Manchette, Vince Emery
Tour: No Walks in May, and June Looks Shot, Too
You know how it goes, you go in for a checkup, one thing leads to another, and you find yourself under the knife for triple bypass surgery. Ouch. Anyway, I survived, but it looks as if it’ll take two, maybe … Continue reading
Posted in Tour
