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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: Lillian Hellman
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: Working the Electronic Morgue
Speaking of the epic sale of Otto Penzler’s mystery library, you may recall that I used Evan Lewis as my man on the street covering the events, since he was interested in hunting down the auction lists and putting up … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Book Collecting, Evan Lewis, John D. Squires, Lillian Hellman, Otto Penzler, Terry Zobeck
Hammett: More Zobeck v. Otto
Terry Zobeck popped in a micro review related to the sale of Otto Penzler’s mystery library a few months ago, which sucked all the oxygen out of the room for awhile. The word, from Terry: My copy of Otto Penzler’s … Continue reading
Hammett: Final Jeopardy(!)
Watching Jeopardy!, S36 E8 for 9/18/19, I roused to some attention when they did a clew featuring Lillian Hellman — but, hey, it’s only Lillian Hellman, who cares, right? Since they just did Hammett recently, I admit I was caught completely … Continue reading
Hammett: Chump Change
Evan Lewis, my de facto reporter on the ground for news of the auction of books from the Otto Penzler collection — which is to say, I’m never going to bother to follow something like that, whereas Evan is covering it like … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Evan Lewis, Lillian Hellman, Otto Penzler, Red Harvest, The Big Knockover
Hammett: A Paperback for Lillian Hellman
Apparently a large chunk out of Otto Penzler’s personal collection is going on the block over the next year or two. I know this news because A) it is public information, no black cats out of the bag or anything, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Creeps by Night, Evan Lewis, Frederic Dannay, Lillian Hellman, Otto Penzler, Pru Whitfield
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
Hammett: It’s Almost Like Clockwork. . .
Yesterday Jeopardy! dropped Hammett back into their clew stew in the Jeopardy Round, in the “toughest” slot — $1000 — in the category Literary Hodgepodge: Dashiell Hammett dedicated “The Thin Man” to this fellow writer and longtime love The contestant … Continue reading
Hammett: Birthday 121
Shot above, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett — who get stacks of their old mail officially donated to the University of South Carolina today, the 121st anniversary of Hammett’s birth. Terry “Mr. Pure Texts” Zobeck and I had a little … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News, Tour
Tagged Humanities Research Center, Jo Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Random House, Richard Layman, University of South Carolina