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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: Hammett Tour Book
Hammett: The Jeopardy! Roundup
For fun I’ve been keeping track of the times Hammett or something to do with Hammett (i.e. Sam Spade or Lillian Hellman) popped up on the game show Jeopardy! Kind of a marker of the cultural zeitgeist. Now that the … Continue reading
Hammett: Chewing Over Crime and Communism
For Xmas on the Hammett front this year, obviously grabbing a copy of The Big Book of the Continental Op is first on the list — just try stuffing that floppy behemoth of a trade paperback into the old stocking! And anyone … Continue reading
Tour: The Kermit Sheets Copy
Grizzled eBay gunhawk Brian Leno told me that a signed copy of an old tour book currently is on the block — Buy It Now for $39.50. First printing of the second edition from 1982. Same printing as the copy I … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged Autographs, Bill Arney, Book Collecting, Bouchercon, Brian Leno, Hammett Tour Book, Kermit Sheets, PulpFest, Tiny Boyles
Frisco Beat: Noir at SFO
Man. Look at this ultra-Frisco display of noir: Left to right, the latest and greatest edition of the Hammett Tour book (trade paperback state), Nathaniel Rich’s survey of noir films shot or set in the Cool Grey City, and the … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Akashic, Devon Morf, Hammett Tour Book, Nathaniel Rich, Peter Maravelis, SFO
Frisco Beat: “Cairo’s Hotel” Grabs a New Alias
In the latest and greatest edition of The Dashiell Hammett Tour book, I advance a new theory about why the various fictitious hotels in The Maltese Falcon picked up their names — one of several fresh litcrit wrinkles I toss in, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News
Tagged Geary Street, Hammett Tour Book, Hotel Bellevue, Hotel Belvedere, Hotel Marker, Hotel Monaco
Hammett: Dell Mapback Backs
As part and parcel of his ongoing Op mania, today Evan Lewis put up nice large images of the various back covers for the Dell Mapbacks containing Continental Op tales by Hammett — and if you don’t know, yes, they feature … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Lost Books of the Amazon
After who knows how many years of goofing off, I finally got around to getting my Author Page on Amazon looking pretty. Some photos, a basic blurb, updates fed in from this blog — and a few but by no means all … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Alfa Romeo Club, Amazon, Hammett Tour Book, Kindle, Literary World of San Francisco, North Beach
Hammett: Some Spaghetti with that Western, Please
As I was just saying in my last post, a guy from Spain came out on the tour and mentioned that Hammett’s novel Red Harvest had been made as a Spaghetti Western — and, no, he wasn’t talking about A … Continue reading
Hammett: And the Oscar Goes To
As I was moping around the web during Oscar season this year a bit of information attracted my attention. I’d no doubt seen the same stats when I looked over Oscar info the previous season, but no bells rang at that time. This … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film
Tagged Ace Atkins, Ben Affleck, Black Mask, Falcon from Knopf, George Arliss, Hammett Tour Book, Jack Benny, Marky Mark, Maurice Chevalier, Oscar, Pulps, Ronald Colman, Shylock, Spenser, Valentine, William Godschalk