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: Willeford
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
Rediscovered: Me and Willeford in a Comic Book
Brian Van Gold of Oakland just did a little homegrown comic book featuring me and Willeford — mostly Willeford. I show up in a one-page anecdote illustrating the time Willeford informed me that All Great Literature is Depressing. I think this … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, News, Willeford
Tagged Brian Van Gold, Carmine Infantino, Iron Fist, Jonni Thunder, Roy Thomas, The Flash
Tour: Sundays April 9 and 23
Image: Dashiell Hammett Tour perched atop the Stockton Tunnel, about to hike over to where Miles Archer got his. . . . Anyone who wants to show up clutching a $20 with four hours to kill —- no appointment necessary — can … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Kind of Willefordian Resume of David Yow
Got a note in from Devon Morf, who sprang into action on the tip I just gave out: “Thanks for the recommendation on I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. Watched it last night. “Recognized the villain as … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, News, Willeford
Tagged Blue Velvet, David Yow, Devon Morf, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard
Sinister Cinema: A Fresh Batch of Willefordian Bad Guys
Happened to watch the brand new Netflix movie I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore a couple of nights ago. A 2017 release, fresh as you can get. It’s a “little” movie, but I have no problem with … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Arrggghhh. . .
When I was roaming the Internet the other day, browsing memoirs of Ed Gorman (and I just had the memory that during my phone chat with him, Gorman also rushed to the defense of John D. MacDonald, who gets a little … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Ed Gorman and a Book That Could Have Been
Noticed that today is Ed Gorman Day across the web. After a long battle with cancer, Gorman died on October 15. I spotted immediate tributes by fellow writers such as Bill Crider and James Reasoner. The appeal of his fiction … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Bill Crider, Bill Pronzini, Blue Lonesome, Brian Drake, Charles L. Grant, Ed Gorman, James Reasoner, Mystery Scene, Peter Rabe
Rediscovered: Gumshoe America; or, Race vs. the Klan
In a couple of days I’m dropping in on a party in Tom Krabacher’s lair, and returning his loaner copy of the academic tome Gumshoe America from 200o by Sean McCann. I was curious about it, since among the major authors surveyed … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, Willeford
Tagged Black Mask, Carroll John Daly, Gumshoe America, KKK, Race Williams, Sean McCann, The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales, Tom Krabacher
Rediscovered: Carroll John Who? H. Warner What?
On the tour in recent years (three or four years ago, five, not twenty years ago, not thirty-five) a woman mentioned that her uncle — or maybe he was her great-uncle — like Hammett also had written for the pulp Black Mask. … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Classic Crime Quips
Occasional Guest Blogger Michael S. Chong popped in news that Death is a Lovely Dame by Jeff Vorzimmer has hit the mean streets — classic lines from crime novels, classic covers. Michael notes that it contains some excerpts from Hammett … Continue reading
