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Tracking Hammett's History
Dennis Dooley studied the Middle Ages and has worked as a journalist and magazine editor. Half of this book is devoted to the short stories, the rest to Hammett's five novels. Hammett's knowledge of society came from his work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency (pp.6-7). Chapter 1 tells of the many changes in the 1920s. The `Continental Op' was a new kind of fictional detective (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 and 4 discuss parts of Hammett's short stories. Does Hammett enjoy and employ hyperbole (p.61)? "Corkscrew" is a story about a land development corporation that wants to eliminate their small-time competition (pp.63-64). "The Big Knockover" is a story where small crooks are bumped off by big crooks. Is this a comment on the business world of 1920s America?



Chapter 6 has Dooley's thoughts on "Red Harvest". Could this story be a metaphor for the Great War, the conflict over who would rule the world? Chapter 7 discusses "The Dain Curse", a novel about family secrets. Chapter 8 discusses the plots of "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Glass Key", about one man's adventures in his society. "The Thin Man" was the most successful and led to a series of six films (p.117). The husband and wife team created a new form of detective stories. Dooley's comments on the empty lives of Nick and Nora may reflect the lifestyles of the rich and famous in their mindless consumption (p.125). Dooley says "The Thin Man" was Hammett's last novel and speculates as to what caused this (p.131). Didn't Hammett have a mental and physical breakdown that ended his creative life?



Chapter 10 views Hammett's historical position as a writer of mystery and detective literature. Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" stories reached a wide public, and set the mark of a brilliant sleuth who was incorruptible. Wasn't that quote of Joseph Fouché first said by Talleyrand (p.137)? I haven't read Edmund Wilson's essay (p.138), but Agatha Christie's story dealt with the very important topic of poison-pen letters and gossip, a most often broken commandment ("false witness") in daily life. The "disillusionment" of post WW I was merely the loss of idealistic fantasies; they should have known better. Trade unions arose after the Civil War (p.140). The rise of gangs were caused by the ruling class's need for extra-legal powers. The "well-regulated militia" would have quickly put an end to them. Any history of Prohibition will tell how the big corporations were behind it. They promised prosperity and less crime. America got the Depression and organized crime.



Hammett was the first writer who had worked as a detective (if you don't count Vidocq). No mention here of those writers who had worked in their country's secret services. Most crimes were committed by people in desperate circumstances, or by those at the top of the heap (p.142). [No crime in the middle classes?] Hammett knew of the effects of "breaks" (p.143). [Machiavelli called it "fortune".] Dooley accuses Erle Stanley Gardner of "parlor games" (p.144)! [Maybe he didn't understand Gardner's subtlety such as "The Case of the Screaming Woman".] Dooley misunderstands the physical appearance of the `Continental Op' (p.145). An undercover agent must not be noticeable (Gardner's "Paul Drake"). At the end Dooley compares Hammett's work to the earlier Western dime novels (p.148).

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Customer Reviews (1)

Finally...
This is good criticism.Gregory understands Hammett and the realm of the hard-boiled.Much better, I think, than George ("Rhino") Thompson's HAMMETT'S MORAL VISION, which seemed very amateurish to me. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best "Walking Tour" ever!
If you can go to San Francisco and take Don Herron's Hammett walking tour...do it! I promise you will be entertained, informed and exhausted (remember, SF is a city of hills.) Don is really an expert on the life andliterary merits of Dashiell Hammett, especially the works he produced whilea resident of this beautiful city by the bay. Over the many years that Donhas guided this tour, he has uncovered (and willingly shares) manyfascinating facts and factoids about Hammett and 1920s San Francisco. Ifyour travels never take you there, however, this book is a worthysubstitute. Beautifully produced and well-written, Don's book is perfectfor the armchair traveller and any hard-boiled mystery buff. ... Read more

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In the first of a series, three famed private-eye authors, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner, team up as the Black Mask Boys to solve a 1930s Hollywood murder, with Hammett acting as the story's narrator. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good fun
Fact: Mystery novel featuring writers Dashiell Hammett, Ray Chandler and Earl Stanley Gardner as amateur detectives trying to assist an old friend. Short fast paced, kind of basic mystery novel. First in a series of three.


Opinion: A good idea is one you that makes you comment "why didn't someone do this earlier?" Thats how I feel about this book (also Gores awesome Hammett novel). This novel is alot of fun, but that's what it is. If you want realism try Gores or the actual Hammett biography Shadowman. This book is a fun romp and isn't that what books should be?

The Danger of Sudden Riches
This 1994 novel is set in Southern California in the 1930s. It blends historical facts about real people with fictional characters for a mystery thriller. Copyright law prevents the use of a "Sam Spade", "Perry Mason", or "Philip Marlowe" but there is no restriction on using their authors. [Isn't that funny?] You will best appreciate this story if you've read those authors. This novel does not copy the styles of those authors, or reflect the life and speech of the 1930s novels. I've read that William F. Nolan wrote many of the scripts to the late, great "Twilight Zone" TV series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. One example where topics could be described as fiction rather than get bogged down in facts.

Chapter 1 introduces us to Hammett and his career. Sylvia Vane tells him about her gambling losses, and wonders if the roulette wheel is rigged. [Would a gambler ever give a sucker an even break?] She asks Dash to check it out, and makes an offer he can't refuse. This gambling ship sails past the 3-mile limit where state laws do not apply (Chapter 2). There is the usual electric atmosphere of a gambling casino to attract people who want to lose their money [the psychology of gambling]. Dash sees how the brake on the roulette wheel is used, but is caught and tossed off the ship! [Sam Spade wouldn't have been caught.] Next Sylvia Vane is stabbed to death in her lavish home (Chapter 4). A new development brings Hammett to New York to solve the kidnapping of Clare (Sylvia's daughter). Hammett will carry the jeweled skull to pay off the kidnapper. [Why not secure shipping?]

Chapter 6 tells how Hammett, Chandler, and Gardner try to rescue Clare from where they think she is being held. There is an explosion on the ship, but they cannot save Clare. [In Chapter 8 Nolan questions A.C. Doyle's character Professor Moriarty. Gerald Sparrow's "Vintage Victorian Murder" tells of Sayers the barrister who ran London crime for twenty years. Don't criticize what you don't understand.] Hammett and Gardner follow a lead to San Francisco but it doesn't pan out. Nolan shows his writing skills (Chapter 11). Chapter 13 describes a live radio show from the 1930s. Nolan also shows his knowledge of writers here. An "executive producer" is the guy who puts up the money for a film (Chapter 13). No mention here of Wall Street money.

They follow a lead to a curio shop, but the owner will tell no tales (Chapter16). Hammett fails to pass in disguise (Chapter 17). A chance acquaintance of Hammett tells him what she learned (Chapter 18). [The scenes in Chapter 19 seem like a caricature.] There is one big surprise! You can decide if the ending is believable (Chapter 20). [The quote "it was easy" sounds like from Mickey Spillane.] The "Cat's Eye" is certainly the stuff dreams are made from. [Was Hammett himself following a false idol?] This is an interesting novel. Few have blended fact with fiction and the results are not that great (the deus ex machina ending).
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Ten classic suspense stories from the 1920s and 1930s by Dashiell Hammett, selected and introduced by Lillian Hellman. ... Read more

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The stunning prequel to Dashiell Hammett's crime classic THE MALTESE FALCON.|When Sam Spade gets drawn into the Maltese Falcon case, we know what to expect: straight talk, hard questions, no favours, and no way for anyone to get underneath the protective shell he wears like a second skin. We know that his late partner, Miles Archer, was a son of a bitch; that Spade is sleeping with Archer's wife. What we don't know is how Spade became who he is. Now SPADE & ARCHER completes the picture. 1921: Spade sets up his own agency in San Francisco and clients quickly start coming through the door. The next seven years will see him dealing with booze runners, water-front thugs, stowaways, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, bumbling cops, and the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat-sen; with murder, other men's mistresses, and long-missing money. He'll bring in Archer as a partner, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. He'll tangle with a villain who never loses his desire to make Spade pay big for ruining what should've been the perfect crime. And he'll fall in love - though it won't turn out for the best. It never does with dames ...S ... Read more

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New book reveals discoveries about The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett, and detective Sam Spade

Hammett expert Richard Layman packs Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade with hundreds of unexpected delights, says Los Angeles Times

This richly illustrated new paperback edited by Richard Layman, Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, uncovers from institutional and private archives a wealth of revelations about the book and film versions of The Maltese Falcon, its author Dashiell Hammett, and his influential hero, detective Sam Spade. Crammed with fascinating facts, the new book provides hundreds of never-before-published photos, documents, and original source materials, including production notes for the three movie versions.

The result of a lifetime of research by Hammett expert Layman, Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade provides hundreds of surprises about the novel, its author, and its film versions, such as:

• For rights to publish the now-famous novel (which has sold more than 4.5 million copies in English alone), publisher Alfred A. Knopf paid author Hammett an advance of nothing.
• The sculptor who created the legendary statuette of the black bird for the 1941 Humphrey Bogart movie may have been an accomplice of the Black Dahlia murderer and the killer of author James Ellroy’s mother.
• Working notes (printed here for the first time) for The Secret Emperor, Hammett’s first, never-finished novel, show that it included elements he later used in The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key.
• About the same time that Hammett wrote The Maltese Falcon, he also wrote "The Boundaries of Science and Philosophy," published here for the first time.
• More than two thousand changes were made to the original magazine version of The Maltese Falcon before it was published as a novel.

Contributors to Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade include Dashiell Hammett himself, plus Jo Hammett, Richard Layman, Joseph Shaw, Mary Astor, Dorothy Parker, Hal Wallis, John Huston, Joe Gores, William F. Nolan, and more than fifty additional writers. It is illustrated with more than 250 black & white and color photos, illustrations, and facsimiles.

The book is "the stuff that dreams are made of" for fans of The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett, detective fiction, film noir, and the history of literature and cinema.

Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade: The Evolution of Dashiell Hammett’s Classic Novel, Including John Huston’s Movie with Humphrey Bogart updates and expands a hardcover book published two years ago for libraries. The paperback edition includes everything from the library edition and more at a much lower price.

Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade is the second title in The Ace Performer Collection, a new series of books published by Vince Emery Productions by and about Dashiell Hammett, crowned "the ace performer" by his disciple Raymond Chandler. It is released in 2005 as part of events held worldwide this year to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of Dashiell Hammett’s masterpiece The Maltese Falcon, often named as one of the twentieth-century’s best novels. John Huston's film adaptation made Humphrey Bogart a star, and was selected by the American Film Institute as number 23 in its selection of the 100 greatest movies of all time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Maltese Falcon
The book I got was fine.The problem was that it took over 3 weeks for me to get the book even though the book was sent out the next day after I ordered it.I was in contact with the company and they were very helpful...the situation was the way the book was mailed.It could have been my fault because I had it shipped the cheapest way, which was some lower form of mail service than the normal way.Who would have believed it could take that long to get from NY to NC?So the moral of the story here is, if you order something, really looking at the shipping method and believe that it could take a long time if you don't upgrade the shipping method.

Amazing Collection of Materials on the Genesis and Legacy of "The Maltese Falcon".
"Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade" is an amazing collection of materials related to Dashiell Hammett, his greatest novel "The Maltese Falcon", the film adaptations of the book, and other spin-offs assembled by Hammett biographer Richard Layman. Layman states in his introduction, "The purpose of this volume is to provide researchers basic materials useful in studying 'The Maltese Falcon'."Not everything ever written about "The Maltese Falcon" is here, but the contents of this book are remarkably varied. The collection is probably too dense for casual fans of "The Maltese Falcon", but it's indispensable for Hammett scholars and aficionados. The only fault I find is that reproductions of newspaper and other type-written materials are sometimes poor and would have benefited from enhancement.

The book is organized into five parts. The first part, "Detective Days", provides biographical information on Dashiell Hammett, a history of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, an interview with a colleague of Hammett's at Pinkerton, excerpts from books on criminal investigation that Hammett studied, and some non-fiction pieces that Hammett wrote about his detective days. The second section, "The Pulps and the Making of the Novel", includes a history of "Black Mask" magazine, the historical basis for the Maltese Falcon statuette, comments by "Black Mask" editor Joseph T. Shaw, some reviews of Hammett's mystery fiction, and many excerpts from Hammett's stories that later inspired characters and events in "The Maltese Falcon".

"Magazine and Book Publication" begins with a copy of Hammett's book contract with Knopf and correspondence with publisher Harry Block. There are covers of "Black Mask" issues that serialized "The Maltese Falcon", examples oftext that was revised between magazine publication and book publication, early book jackets, many favorable reviews of the book, Dorothy Parker's tepid review of "The Glass Key", articles about Cecil Henderson's plagiarism, and sales data for the novel. The forth section, "Critical Views of 'The Maltese Falcon'", is seven pieces of relatively recent literary criticism that explore American individualism, Sam Spade's vernacular, the novel as introverted romance, as allegory of international politics between the wars, and the pursuit of tangible wealth, among other themes.

The last section, "Movies, Stage, and Radio: Hammett's Novel in Popular Culture", follows Hammett's life after the publication of the novel, followed by discussions of the script, budget, and reviews for the first film adaptation at Warner Brothers in 1931. More letters from Warner Brothers, title suggestions, correspondence with the Breen Office, and reviews of the second movie adaptation, "Satan Met a Lady", in 1936. For John Huston's 1941 adaptation, there is a letter from Joseph Breen citing Production Code violations in the script, a budget, letters about filming, Mary Astor's recollections of the film, 3 movie reviews, and 4 critical analyses. There is a bit about an abortive stage play and the legal challenges over "The Adventures of Sam Spade" radio show. There is a list of selected publications of "The Maltese Falcon" in the back of the book as well as an index.

No Question Left Unanswered
I love the story of THE MALTESE FALCON, not only as it is told in Hammett's novel but also as it is portrayed in John Huston's movie. I can never read enough about Dashiell Hammett, Joseph Shaw, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Gladys George, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr., Mary Astor, Barton MacLane, Robert and William Pinkerton, John Huston, Lillian Hellman, the Knights of Malta, BLACK MASK, San Francisco after World War I and Raymond Chandler.

This book has enough anecdotes and background material to satisfy even the most ardent enthusiast. My own favorite piece is an account by Mary Astor of her experiences while filming for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the 1941 version of THE MALTESE FALCON.

A Rare Treat For The Fan Of Sam Spade
DISCOVERING THE MALTESE FALCON AND SAM SPADE is the complete book for the fan of Sam Spade in both film and fiction. Fortunately, a very detailed index is provided which allows the reader to choose from among an array of tantalizing topics.The latter includes an account of Dashiell Hammett's days as a Pinkerton detective as well as his work for BLACK MASK. The author also gives us much information about THE MALTESE FALCON in the movies and on stage and radio.The book represents an admirable effort by Layman and it will be enjoyed by anyone captivated by the lure of this enduring tale.

Dashiell Hammett
Dashiel Hammett is one of my favorite authors, I have all of his stories, including a couple of biographies. I'm also a fan of Noir stories and movies.This is a great book to add to my collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hugely entertaining two-fisted adventure by two masters
Wow!Dashiell Hammett, author of detective classics like "Continental Op", "The Thin Man" and "The MalteseFalcon" teams up with superb illustrator Alex Raymond of "FlashGordon" fame to create a thriller comic strip.What more could youask for?

Well, truth to tell this series has more in common with"Doc Savage" or "The Shadow" than Sam Spade. Still it'sa rollicking adventure as a mysterious murder kicks off a killer gang'splan to pirate a shipload of gold and slay anyone who gets in their way! X9 mows 'em down with Tommy guns, gats and grenades but they keep comingover land, sea and air!

This is the beginning of X9's career, and isearly in Raymond's, too.Hammett left the author's chair at the end ofthis series and X9, later renamed "Secret Agent Corrigan", becamea bit more campy, eventually turning into something of a "JamesBond" clone when artist Al Williamson took the strip over afterRaymond's fatal car crash.Lots of fun. ... Read more

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Great Picks from a Great Era!
Creeps By Night
Edited by
Dashiell Hammett

When I saw this book with water damaged covers and browning pages at the estate sale , I was thrilled by the words "Dashiell Hammet." I assumed that I was paying my quarter for a book of detective fiction.Instead the 1931 volume collected magazine fiction from the last four years, and I can say that these must have been the best four years for horror fiction ever. There is no exception; the Lovecraft piece dates from 1925.

The book begins with a "Rose for Emily" by little Billie Faulkner. If you are not familiar with this story read it now on line, it is possiblyshort stories in the English language. No wonder the guy won the Noble Prize. .

But it also has "The Spider" by Hanz Heinz Ewers, the horror writer that was the personal favorite of Adolph Hitler and Aleister Crowley.If you don't want to know who scared the First Beast of Revelation and Hitler, then you just don't want to know.(I became so intrigued with Ewers, I wrote an introduction to his first book-sized collection (in English) Strange Tales. Hilter's "Stephen King" not your style - try "A Visitor from Egypt"by Frank Belknap Long. Jr.A really great mummy story that had appeared in Weird Tales.Like his mentor H.P. Lovecraft, whose "The Music of Eric Zhan" is included in this volume, it was his first anthology appearance.

Stephen Vincent Benet gives us "The King of the Cats" - really a better story than his "The Devil and Daniel Webster" , but lest your fannish mind be put off by such high-toned retelling of folklore, the very next story is "The Red Brain" by Donald Wandrei .He had written this overblown, but chilling science fantasy in 1927, at the tender age of19 - maybe this first hardback inspired him to co-found Arkham House.

Irwin S. Cobb of "Fishhead" fame contributed "Faith, Hope and Charity" a pretty revolting survival tale that certainly should have had some other appearance.Certainly John Collier's "Green Thoughts" was well anthologized after its appearance in this volume. William Seabrook did become well known as a writer of spooky popular anthropology, but is forgotten for his effective fiction like this book's "Vengeance of the Witch."

How did Hammett hit the mark on so many choices?

Why did Horror Fiction reach a peak in the late twenties?

Did some eldritch god rise in the dreams of mankind?Something that could touch Faulkner and Benet, Lovecraft and Long, Ewers and Cobb, Seabrook and Wandrei?

I believe that in 1925 some god or demon must have risen in the minds of dreamers.Its terrible presence created five years of great horror writing the like of which has not been seen since.Well there are some exceptions Ellison, Campbell, Ligotti, Lansdale, me, Richard Gavin . ..

Alas the great rising was aborted.Clearly genius has gone out of the horror tale, with a few exceptions.There seems to be no trace of what affected Earth's dreamers.

Perhaps we will never know.

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En estos cinco relatos extraordinarios, escritos por otros tantos maestros del genero, los asesinos y sus crimenes se mueven en escenarios misteriosos, corre la sangre e impregna las tramas de cada una de estas historias policiales impactantes coronadas por finales geniales y sorprendentes. ... Read more

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Una pequeña joya de la serie negra
Una mujer en la oscuridad fue escrita a los dos años de que Dashiell Hammett conociera a Lillian Hellman. Es, con toda seguridad, la más sentimental de las novelas de Hammett. Esta obra fue publicada en la revista Liberty, y permaneció perdida durante años. En el texto se describen de forma magistral los personajes de Brazil y Luise Fischer y, a pesar de su corta extensión, desprende el aroma del mejor Hammett ... Read more