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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Tag Archives: The Shadow
Rediscovered: Another Maxwell Grant
Autograph Hound Saturday once more, and let’s keep the Maxwell Grant/John Hancock theme going. Brian Leno per norm supplies the signature, this time from the 1960s run of Belmont paperback originals of The Shadow ghosted by Dennis Lynds under the … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Dennis Lynds, The Shadow, Walter B. Gibson
Rediscovered: The Shadow and His Signatories
Autograph Hound Super-Sunday once more! Haven’t done one of these in awhile — and for once it’s not coming from that maniacal Autograph Hound Brian Leno. At least not directly. Brian did tip me to a plethora of John Hancocks … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Lit
Tagged Anthony Boucher, Arkham House, Autographs, Bouchercon, Brian Garfield, Brian Leno, Christiana Brand, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Edward D. Hoch, Frederic Dannay, Gahan Wilson, Gary Phillips, Isaac Asimov, Jack Kerouac, John Ball, Jon L. Lellenberg, Kent Harrington, Lin Carter, Maxwell Grant, Michelle Slung, Phyllis A. Whitney, Phyllis White, Posse McMillan, Richard Lackritz, Robert Fish, Ron Goulart, Stanley Ellin, Steranko, The Shadow, Walter Gibson
Rediscovered: The Shadow, Surrounded or Surmounted?
As I said I would, I dug into the various lists of seven fave The Shadow novels suggested by the poll in The Shadowed Circle Compendium. I figured out the ones that sounded like Must Reads for me. Five of … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Anthony Tollin, Evan Lewis, Jeopardy!, Maxwell Grant, The Shadow, The Shadowed Circle Compendium, Walter B. Gibson
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
Rediscovered: The Burnt Shadow
Speaking of The Shadow, the excellent new book The Shadowed Circle Compendium reminded me of a trip a few years ago, when I stopped in on Dennis McMillan during a period he lived in Gallup, New Mexico. Dennis had access … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Know The Shadow. . .
Check out that great Chinatown alley. Can’t you just see Lon Chaney as a vicious legless Lord of the Underworld creeping over the stone bricks, enrapt in savage dreams of subjugating the city? But Chaney kept his lair in San … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News
Tagged Alec Baldwin, Ian McKellan, James Reasoner, John C. Moran, Lon Chaney, Orson Welles, The Shadow, The Shadowed Circle Compendium, Walter B. Gibson, Will Murray
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 Bantam Docs
Earlier today Brian Leno was claiming that he’s “no expert on Doc Savage.” Yeah, sure, he’s not Will Murray, but he has contributed to Big Book of Bronze. And at the end of last year he was very happy when … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Big Book of Bronze, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, Lester Dent, The Shadow, Will Murray
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
