Yesterday was the 78th anniversary of the one time we know of that Hammett met Chandler, commemorated by the LA Times — and with a few tidbits added in by me for the Mean Streets crowd. Now Terry Zobeck pops in another tidbit to factor into the saga.
Here’s Terry:
The LA Times article claims Hammett never wrote a word about Chandler, but that’s not exactly true. In a letter to daughter Mary dated December 26, 1944 he wrote: “By the way there’s an article about detective stories (and me) in the December Atlantic Monthly that you might like. It’s by Raymond Chandler and — though this may sound immodest of me — he does a pretty good job.”
High praise indeed from Hammett; no wonder he kept a copy.
