by Nathan Ward
Sonoma gold theft case, here, here
Spade, Sam (character)
apartment of, here, here, here
descriptions of, here
and Flitcraft Parable, here
Hammett on, here, here
influence of, here
introduction of, here
personality of, here
similarities to Hammett, here, here
in works after Maltese Falcon, here, here, here
Spokane, Washington, Hammett in, here, here, here, here
Stein, Gertrude, here
Steunenberg, Frank, here
Sutton Club (New York), here, heren11
Swiggett, Howard, heren4
Tacoma, Washington, Hammett’s convalescence in, here, here
The Thin Man (Hammett)
autobiographical elements in, here, here, here
as comic mystery, here, here
dedication of, here
dog in, here
film versions of, here, here, here
Hammett on, here
original abandoned version of, here, here
publication as book, here, here
publication as serial, here
success of, here, here
writing of, here, here, here
Thirty Years a Detective (Pinkerton), here
Thompson, Josiah, here
“Three Gun Terry” (Daly), here
True Detective Stories (periodical), here, here
tuberculosis
contraction of, here, here, heren6deadliness of, here
and employment, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
fiction about, here
impact on Hammett’s view of life, here, here, here, here
living arrangements necessitated by, here, here, heren, here, here, here, here
postwar convalescence, here, here
and refusal to drive, here
relapse of 1926, here, here
stigma attached to, here
and turn to writing, here, here, here
wife and, here
Tulip (Hammett), here, here, here, here
Two Evil Isms (Siringo), here
An Unfinished Woman (Hellman), here
Universal Studios, here
The Valley of Fear (Doyle), here
Vance, Philo (character), here
Van Dine, S. S., here
Vidocq, François Eugene, here
Vollmer, August, here, here
Warner Brothers Studio, here, here, here, here, here
West, Nathanael “Pep,” here
Western Advertising (periodical), here, here
Whicher, J. W., here, here
Wild Bunch gang, here
women
as characters in Hammett, here, here, here
at Pinkerton Detective Agency, here
Woollcott, Alexander, here, here
World War I service, here
as ambulance driver, here, here
disability pension from, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
drafting of, here
and influenza epidemic of 1918–19, here
medical discharge, here
and tuberculosis infection, here, here, heren6
Wright, James “Jimmy,” here, here
writing career of Hammett, here
advertising writing, here, here, here
book reviews, here, here
early detective fiction, here, here, here
early fiction and poems, here
early success of, here
money troubles of early years, here, here, here, here
money troubles of successful years, here, here, here, here, here
quality of early stories, here, here, here, here
success of 1930s, here, here
transition to, here, here, here, here, here, here
unfinished works of later years, here, here, here
writing style of Hammett
balance of satire and plot in, here
believability and, here, here
in The Big Knockover, here
as cinematic, here, here
in Continental Op stories, here, here
and courtship of Jose, here
development of, here, here, here, here, here
as new American style, here, here, here
and “skin of realism,” here, here
wisecracking in, here, here
Younger gang, here, here
Yowaiski, Jane Fish, here
Zanuck, Daryl, here, here, here
Image Section
Young Sam Hammett in his parents’ backyard on North Stricker Street in Baltimore, just before leaving the Pinkertons for the Army in 1918. (Julie M. Rivett)
“Dearest Woman,” Josephine Annis Dolan (called Jose), met Sam Hammett when he was brought to the Cushman Institute in the fall of 1920. (Julie M. Rivett)
Transferred for his health, the smitten young lung patient has a smoke outside San Diego, 1921. (Julie M. Rivett)
Advertisement for Pinkerton’s San Francisco office, 1920, with Hammett’s supervisor, Phil Geauque, the future Secret Service man, on the masthead. (Internet Archive)
San Francisco’s James Flood Building on Market Street near the cable-car turnaround on Powell. Pinkerton’s had room 314. (San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)
The renowned Pinkerton detective James McParland probably inspired the Continental Agency’s Old Man (“A tall, plump man in his seventies ... with a white-mustached, baby-pink, grandfatherly face, mild blue eyes behind rimless spectacles”), as well as a character in a late Sherlock Holmes novel. (Library of Congress)
Tough guy in transition: the ex-detective and emerging artist lights a match on the rooftop of the Crawford Apartments on Eddy Street in San Francisco, August 10, 1925. (Julie M. Rivett)
The natty young father sitting with daughter Mary in approximately the same year, 1925, with San Francisco stretching wide-open behind them (Julie M. Rivett)
Hammett looking gaunt yet determined in a Morris chair at the Crawford Apartments, early 1920s (Julie M. Rivett)
Red Harvest featured a fictional rendering of Butte, Montana, “an ugly city ... set in an ugly notch between two ugly mountains that had been all dirtied up by mining.” (Random House)
Jose, Mary, and Jo sent Hammett this haunting snapshot from Montana during their months-long separation around 1926. (Julie M. Rivett)
The cover for the Continental Op adventure that became Red Harvest: “The Cleansing of Poisonville,” in the September 1927 issue of Black Mask (Layman Hammett Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries, Columbia, S.C.)
H. C. Murphy’s cool-under-fire cover image for the September 1929 issue of Black Mask was the definitive picture of Sam Spade until John Huston’s 1941 movie. (Layman Hammett Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries, Columbia, S.C.)
When the novel was first published in February 1930, Gilbert Seldes wrote in the New York Graphic, “The detectives of fiction have been knocked into a cocked hat ... by the appearance of Sam Spade in a book called The Maltese Falcon.” (Random House)
The maestro at his keyboard: Hammett is pictured in his writing prime for a newspaper profile, 1934. (Harry Ransom Collection)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nathan Ward is the author of Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront. He was an editor at American Heritage, and he has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront
The Total Sports Illustrated Book of Boxing
(coeditor, with W. C. Heinz)
Bloomsbury USA
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2015
This electronic edition published September 2015
© Nathan Ward, 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-80277-640-2
ePub: 978-1-63286-277-8
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Ward, Nathan, 1963–
The lost detective : becoming Dashiell Hammett / Nathan Ward.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8027-7640-2 (hardback) / 978-1-63286-277-8 (ePub)
1. Hammett, Dashiell, 1894-1961. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 3. Detective and mystery stories, American—History and criticism.
I. Title. II. Title: Becoming Dashiell Hammett.
PS3515.A4347Z92 2015
813′.52—dc23
[B]
2015016402
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