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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Tag Archives: Black Mask
Hammett: Jonathan Latimer Cracks Wise
Got some notes in from Terry Zobeck, who is deep into the forgotten mags of the early 1920s on a Hammett hunt. Big game bibliography at its finest. But he’s not always prowling the primeval pagination, like a regular guy … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit
Tagged Black Mask, Erle Stanley Gardner, Jonathan Latimer, Perry Mason, Terry Zobeck
Rediscovered: Lester Dent
Autograph Hound Saturday again and our resident Autograph Hound, in the person of Brian Leno, hauls out the very latest acquisition to his sprawling spread of John Hancocks. This round he presents another Lester Dent item (you may recall his … Continue reading
Hammett: Further “Creeping Siamese”
Today Evan Lewis spotlights another newspaper reprint for a Hammett story — “The Creeping Siamese.” Evan says, “This Op adventure, originally published in the May 1926 Black Mask, was reprinted in the May 31, 1942 El Paso Times.” Plus the paper includes a … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "The Creeping Siamese", Black Mask, El Paso Times, Evan Lewis, newspaper action
Hammett: Another “Dead Yellow Women” (Heavily Illustrated)
Today Evan Lewis uncovers yet another newsprint serialization of an Op yarn, beginning November 29, 1942 in the Albuquerque Journal — almost 79 years ago exactly. The yarn in question is the excellent “Dead Yellow Women” from Black Mask, November 1925 … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "Dead Yellow Women", Albuquerque Journal, Black Mask, Evan Lewis, newspaper action
Hammett: “The Judge Laughed Last”
A decade ago Terry Zobeck did the pure text treatment on the minor Hammett yarn “The Judge Laughed Last” — originally published in 1924 in Black Mask as “The New Racket” — but Evan Lewis has sleuthed out a good … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "The Judge Laughed Last", "The New Racket", Black Mask, Evan Lewis, Terry Zobeck
Mort: William F. Nolan
A few days after the fact, word drifted in that William F. Nolan died, age 93, on July 15. I scanned some of the obits, all rightly selecting the science fiction novel Logan’s Run as the book of all his … Continue reading
Rediscovered: More Cap Shaw
A few days ago Brian Leno sent in scans of a book he has that comes from the library of famed Black Mask editor Joseph T. “Cap” Shaw — nothing less than the Hammett-edited Creeps by Night. Today he sends … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Autographs, Black Mask, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Cap Shaw, Simon and Schuster, The Hard-Boiled Omnibus
Hammett: Collecting Creeps by Night
Autograph Hound Super-Sunday again, in this instance spurred on by Terry Zobeck mentioning to me that he finally landed a copy of the Hammett-edited Creeps by Night in dustjacket — after years of having it as a Grail Item on … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged Autographs, Black Mask, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Cap Shaw, Creeps by Night, J. Paul Suter, Terry Zobeck
Hammett: Pick-Up on Post Street
Sitting in his rooms in 891 Post Street in San Francisco one of the star writers for the wood-pulp Black Mask cooked up a yarn that would make him the name to conjure with for closing in on a century … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Does Continuity Matter?
For those who enjoy chewing the fat about books and writers, in email the noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook and I recently got off on another little thread that might interest some of you: Kevin: Of course the … Continue reading
