Ah, to be a mystery fan in the 1930s… Pulp fiction was rife with the jaded private eye. Magazines like Black Mask brimmed with femme fatales. Cigarette smoke filled rooms dimly lit and latticed by half-opened blinds. Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade stalked the crime-ridden alleys in search of answers, the…
The movie version of The Thin Man (1934), written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich and directed by W.S. Van Dyke, is one of my all-time favorite movies. What’s not to love? William Powell and Myrna Loy are at their best. Asta the dog is cute. There’s wise-cracking dialogue, great clothes and a twisty murder-mystery…
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland in 1894. In his early teens, he left school and worked at various jobs. Finally at age twenty-one he took a job as an operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. After World War I began, Hammett signed up to serve in the Motor Ambulance Service, but during the…
In kicking off an article about amateur detectives of yore, most of whom just happen to be married, the obvious opener would a play on the phrase “’til death do us part.” Since I’m not clever enough to come up with anything I’ll invite the reader to insert their own. In any event, here are…
Return of the Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett is a traditional detective story anthology containing two unpublished novellas featuring private investigator Nick Charles and his wife Nora (available November 6, 2012). One would be justified in asking what these stories have to offer to the modern reader almost seven decades after they were conceived. The…
So there I sat, at the stick in my latest hangout, The End of Times, having another Scotch on the rocks. The guy on the stool next to mine reminded me of Orson Wells during his “We will sell no wine before its time” Paul Masson phase. For some reason, this guy kept looking over…
When was the last time you laughed at a funeral? OK, maybe that’s an unfair question, but I’m making a point. In the annals of film, television, and literature, humor and death often go hand in hand. It has been defined as “black comedy” or as the French say, humour noir. This type of comedy…
