Awhile back I linked to a set of contemporary newsprint articles on Hammett and the assault on Elise De Viane. At that moment Cosby had been thrown in the hoosegow — and now he’s out. The weird meanderings of history-in-the-making. . . .
Michael S. Chong just hit my inbox with another piece on “Whatever Happened to Elise De Viane?” from CrimeReads, if you want to explore more of the story. Probably goes on too long — Tl;dr — for most people, but you can skim around and get the main points.
And don’t miss the Comments, where Nathan Ward slugs out a defense against a little attack made in passing on his book The Lost Detective. (One reason I merely skimmed the article is that the guy seems to use the Joan Mellen biography of Hammett as his main go-to. Please. She makes up entire conversations between Hammett and Lillian Hellman when they’re sitting in the back seat of cabs. Among other improbabilities.)
