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
Willeford
The Book
Tag Archives: PW
Rediscovered: A MetaNoir Worth Another Mention
I’m poking along, compiling another LitCrit MegaPack of my selected essays and reviews. Just scanned through the over 200 reviews I did for Publishers Weekly. Almost all short. Very tight word count. One that caught my eye was Noir by … Continue reading
Posse McMillan: Kent Harrington and the Third Degree
Our buddy Kent Harrington from the old Posse McMillan days — and up to today — fields some snoopy queries in his latest interview over on the Noir Con site. He mentions Dennis McMillan and the days of yesteryear, plus … Continue reading
Death Lit: Manchette Under Review
My review of the latest translation from French noir master Jean-Patrick Manchette — No Room at the Morgue — recently popped at PW. Here’s the really good news — New York Review Books lined up another translator to work on … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Alyson Waters, Donald Nicholson-Smith, James Brook, Manchette, New York Review Books, PW
Rediscovered: Lambasted
If you want to surf over and check it out, I just had another review of a Cool and Lam novel pop to life. Roughly 80% accurate to what I turned in, so it passes my test for a personal … Continue reading
Death Lit: You Might Want It for Xmas
— but copies won’t be circulating to the general public until next year. Still, I guess you could put it on a post-Xmas wish list. The item in question seems aimed at readers who like burglars and Lawrence Block — … Continue reading
Death Lit: Reviewing That Neo-Noir
After I put up the link to my review of the most recent Donald Westlake reissue, I had the thought that I’d reviewed several other books since the previous one I’d linked to. Checked, and found four titles. Oops. They … Continue reading
Death Lit: A Couple of Westlakes
— but both Westlakes are in the same book. Just like I did almost exactly a year ago, I got to review a repackaging of a Donald E. Westlake — originally titled Enough, back in 1977. If interested in that … Continue reading
Death Lit: Down and Out in Sweden
And yes, I keep chugging along with reviews on the side. This somewhat recent one is close enough to the wording I turned in to qualify for a link. Someone did sub in the term “mean streets” in place of … Continue reading
Death Lit: Is It Noir or Is It Dark?
Had another review pop to life. If you want to surf over and give it the old gander, feel free. I figure this one, more or less, is maybe 80% of what I sent in/intended. The intro by Lawrence Block, … Continue reading
Death Lit: A Gangster Rap
While I’m thinking about it, I had another review appear that is roughly 90% what I sent in — only 85% in the worse case scenario. Cut is my blurb that the book is “novelized history or history-heavy pulp,” which — … Continue reading
