Most of what is known about Hammett in terms of popular culture comes from the stories told by Hammett’s long-time friend and companion Lillian Hellman. Nathan Ward’s new book “The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett” offers readers a chance to look behind the scenes of Hammett’s life and to find out what led to his brilliant and all-too-brief literary career. Heck, the name Sam Spade has essentially become shorthand for a certain type of detective thanks to Hammett’s brilliant “The Maltese Falcon.” Characters that he created have become literary icons, templates for the many writers who would follow in his footsteps.
Years ago I took the Maltese Falcon Walking Tour in San Francisco and found it interesting and fun besides being good exercise walking up and down the San Francisco streets.ĭashiell Hammett’s name is synonymous with the hard-boiled crime fiction that he essentially invented back in the early part of the 20th century. The book is short at about 5 hours and Brian Holsopple did a good job narrating the book. Ward is a good storyteller so the book is a delight to read. This book makes a great addition to the biographies on Hammett. Ward also interviewed local San Francisco literary historians and Hammett researchers. Ward states he spent many hours in the Library of Congress researching for the book. The book is well written and meticulously researched.
Hammett did most of his writing in the 19s.
Hammett joined the Pinkerton agency as an entry level worker. Army ambulance driver in WWI who acquired tuberculosis. How did Hammett go from being a Pinkerton Detective to writing detective novels? Hammett was a High School dropout and a U.S. Much has been written about Hammett (1894-1961), but this book covers a little known period of his life and helps answer a question I have wondered about over the years.
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