Mark Coggins, big Hammett fan (and crime novelist, etc & etc) just dropped me a note to say:
“Hammett’s probably spinning in his grave, but I joined Mr. Collins in attempting a Spade story, published at Eclectica Magazine.
“Floyd Thursby’s hotel features prominently and I wasn’t quite sure from your guidebook which hotel it would have been, but I settled on the circled one from the 1928 city directory (see attached). Hope that was right!
“I actually had a little correspondence with the current owner and he said a number of folks have told him his is Thursby’s hotel.”
Best I recall, I didn’t see enough solid clews in The Maltese Falcon to pinpoint the Miles crib.
Terry Zobeck, our pure texts guy, noticed the story instantly, and issued the proclamation:
“Let the Sam Spade floodgates open!
“Mark Coggins has published a Spade short story that provides a sort of epilogue to The Maltese Falcon.
“It’s pretty good for what it is. Coggins, who you may know, is a fine writer. His Vulture Capital was a nice homage to The Glass Key.”
