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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Tag Archives: Manchette
Hammett: The Noir Croissant
Brian Wallace updates the news regarding Clive Owen playing Sam Spade, after Sam has moved to France, it’s circa 1963, and a plot is brewing. First, The Ronin blurbs the project and speculates who might pick it up — they … Continue reading
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
Sinister Cinema: Sam Invades Manchette Territory
Terry Zobeck pops along the news from The Rap Sheet that unbeknownst to us Sam Spade moved to France and is about to get into some 1960s colonial action, as in a Jean-Patrick Manchette novel! Well, hell, I wasn’t expecting … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Willeford
Tagged Burnt Orange Heresy, Clive Owen, Manchette, Rap Sheet, Terry Zobeck
Death Lit: Manchette Under Review
My review of the latest translation from French noir master Jean-Patrick Manchette — No Room at the Morgue — recently popped at PW. Here’s the really good news — New York Review Books lined up another translator to work on … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Alyson Waters, Donald Nicholson-Smith, James Brook, Manchette, New York Review Books, PW
Death Lit: Reliquaries of the Weird
The other day Brian Leno mentioned that he’d heard good things about the novel Relic by Preston & Child — but even more specifically, he got the major tip-off from me. Brian notes, “You told me about this book over … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Brian Leno, Douglas Preston, John Grisham, Lincoln Child, Manchette, PEAPS, Pendergast Series, Tom Krabacher
Sinister Cinema: Heresy
In February, when I was generally distracted, the publisher Vince Emery passed along a link to a Hollywood Reporter article on the possible or upcoming movie of the Charles Willeford novel The Burnt Orange Heresy. Who knows if it’ll make it … Continue reading
Posted in Film, News, Tour, Willeford
Tagged Burnt Orange Heresy, Christopher Walken, Hollywood Reporter, John Leguizamo, Manchette, Vince Emery
Rediscovered: Brian Leno Reviews a Bestseller; or, Amazing Exploits of the Tallest Midget
When I began my casual gig reviewing books for Publishers Weekly back in 2000, I told Pete the editor that I wasn’t interested in covering any novels that were being packaged as “bestsellers” — I did my time earlier in those … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News, REH
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Bobby Derie, Brian Leno, James Patterson, Jason Colavito, John D. Haefele, Manchette, Matt Cardin, PW, S.T. Joshi, Scott Connors, Stanley Wiater, Stephen King
Rediscovered: Another Manchette Down
While I wasn’t paying close attention, New York Review Books has slipped another novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette into English translation — excellent. Only took them three years, but that is much better than the previous gap of nine years between … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The “Human Typewriter” on the Fattest Man in Milan
A few months ago I read Giorgio Scerbanenco’s A Private Venus — only the second book translated into English by this writer, so prolific he was called the “human typewriter”. . . . I’ve met several authors who could lay claim … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged A Private Venus, Duca Lamberti, Giorgio Scerbanenco, Human Typewriters, Manchette
Rediscovered: Manchette
Finally. More Jean-Patrick Manchette makes the leap into English-language print. After nine years. Powers-That-Be, come on, speed it up. In March 2002 City Lights Noir created a shockwave among noir cognoscenti with Donald Nicholson-Smith’s riveting translation of Three to Kill, Manchette’s 1976 thriller … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, Willeford
Tagged City Lights, David Goodis, Donald Westlake, Manchette, New York Review Books, Red Harvest