Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
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The Book
Tag Archives: James Patterson
Rediscovered: 50 Years of Gangland’s Doom
The crew at The Shadowed Circle magazine just released a commemorative 50th anniversary edition of a landmark in Shadow studies. You’ll remember that in addition to the magazine not long ago they brought out the excellent omnibus The Shadowed Circle … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Frank Eisgruber Jr, H. Warner Munn, James Patterson, Robert Weinberg, The Shadow, The Shadowed Circle Compendium, Will Murray
Hammett: P. I. Sam, Reanimated
Brian Wallace keeps sending me the news that when the copyright expires early in 2025, Max Allan Collins has a deal with Hard Case Crime to pick up Sam Spade in (dum-dum): The Return of The Maltese Falcon Of course, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Brian Wallace, Hard Case Crime, James Patterson, Joe Gores, Max Allan Collins, Sam Spade pastiches
Rediscovered: The Latest “Doc Savage”
Brian Leno said he was going to read the new James Patterson “Doc Savage” novel — and he dood it: A few days ago my mail carrier dropped off The Perfect Assassin, the new novel by the writing team of … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Brian Leno, Brian Sitts, Doc Savage, James Patterson, Lester Dent, The Shadow
Rediscovered: The Return of a Doc
A year ago Brian Leno was appalled when bestseller James Patterson tried to write a novel featuring The Shadow. Now he’s got word that Patterson is moving in on Doc Savage — and we know how much Brian likes Doc: … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Splat Like a Cat on the Wall, a Review by Brian Leno
The Shadow. Gangdom’s toughest foe. Wearing a black slouch hat, and a cloak with upturned collar, he carries twin automatics and depopulates the world of criminals faster than a poor relation diving for a seat at your dining table. … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Brian Leno, Brian Sitts, Dennis Lynds, James Patterson, Tex Albritton, The Shadow
Rediscovered: Purist Outrage!
The idea that Brian Leno and Tom Krabacher and I cast wary eyes toward the new James Patterson “Shadow” novel recently drove the noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook into a berserker frenzy. “Why the [sulphurous blasphemy] do you … Continue reading
Rediscovered: First, Classic Shadow
Before he makes an attempt at reading the new “Shadow” novel by James Patterson, Brian Leno selected one of the original pulp era sagas to compare it against. “Pretty close to being done with Gray Fist, one of the earlier … Continue reading
Rediscovered: A Shadow Puzzle
Brian Leno greets me this morning with a puzzler. “A little quiz for the Mean Streets, Don: Which of these three does not belong?” The reboot or reimagining or defunding of The Shadow by James Patterson came out the other … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Brian Leno, Doctor Sax, Jack Kerouac, James Patterson, The Shadow, Tom Krabacher, William S. Burroughs
Rediscovered: Brian Leno Reviews a Bestseller; or, Amazing Exploits of the Tallest Midget
When I began my casual gig reviewing books for Publishers Weekly back in 2000, I told Pete the editor that I wasn’t interested in covering any novels that were being packaged as “bestsellers” — I did my time earlier in those … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News, REH
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Bobby Derie, Brian Leno, James Patterson, Jason Colavito, John D. Haefele, Manchette, Matt Cardin, PW, S.T. Joshi, Scott Connors, Stanley Wiater, Stephen King
