Un detective llamado Dashiell Hammett

by Nathan Ward, Eduardo Iriarte (Translator)

Antes de convertirse en el más influyente de los autores del género negro, Dashiell Hammett tuvo, al igual que sus personajes, una vida de novela. Para conocer mejor la gé­nesis de este escritor revolucionario, Nathan Ward plantea una inteligente mirada a su larga etapa de formación, en la que tiene una importancia capital su trabajo en la legen­daria agencia de detectives Pinkerton, que le proporcio­naría cuantioso material para crear su violento universo literario.

Un detective llamado Dashiell Hammett es una documenta­da biografía, salpicada de incontables anécdotas, que ofrece el vívido retrato de un investigador privado que acabó sien­do un escritor irrepetible.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Mystery, Writing, Crime, Biography Memoir

248 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Adam McPhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short and not too deep or taxing, a nice summer read.

There's not a whole lot available on Hammett's early life, so it's more about comparing it with what's known about other Pinkerton agents. It's funny how much overlap there is between Hammett's life and writing and Hemingway's, but Hammett was seen as a genre writer and so he's neven been taken as seriously. One thing I liked about this compared to the Hemingway bios I've been reading is that the author doesn't put Hammett down for exaggerating and confabulating his personal anecdotes. After all, isn't that what we expect of a writer?

The book ends just after the publication the time of his final novel, The Thin Man, and so it doesn't have a chance to get into his courageous political activism, which seems to be deeply tied to his alcoholism and inability to keep writing. Maybe it's for the best though because the author seems uninterested in exploring the inherent contradictions between Hammett's time as a strikebreaker and his later move to the left.

Still, it reminded me of what I love about Red Harvest and made me want to re-read The Maltese Falcon and dive deeper into his short stories.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit short but delves into the one part of Hammett's life the other biographies tend to skimp on: his Pinkerton detective years and how they affected his later writing. Extremely well researched.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. How did Hammett go from being a Pinkerton Detective to writing detective novels? Hammett was a High School dropout and a U.S. Army ambulance driver in WWI who acquired tuberculosis. Hammett joined the Pinkerton agency as an entry level worker. Hammett did most of his writing in the 1920 and 1930s.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. The book is based on original research. Ward states he spent many hours in the Library of Congress researching for the book. Ward also interviewed local San Francisco literary historians and Hammett researchers. This book makes a great addition to the biographies on Hammett. Ward is a good storyteller so the book is a delight to read. The book is short at about 5 hours and Brian Holsopple did a good job narrating the book.

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.

[Allen Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/myst...

Dashiell Hammett’s name is synonymous with the hard-boiled crime fiction that he essentially invented back in the early part of the 20th century. Characters that he created have become literary icons, templates for the many writers who would follow in his footsteps. Heck, the name Sam Spade has essentially become shorthand for a certain type of detective thanks to Hammett’s brilliant “The Maltese Falcon.”

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.

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. However, Hellman’s well-documented tendencies toward self-aggrandizement and a refusal to let the truth get in the way of a good story – not to mention the fact that she only knew Hammett after he was already famous – means that the mystery writer’s life was largely, well … a mystery.

What Ward has done with “The Lost Detective” is give readers a chance to learn more about Hammett’s origins. Rather than concern himself with the tales of drunkenness and debauchery committed by famed writer Dashiell Hammett, Ward instead explores the journeys and life choices of aspiring writer Dashiell Hammett.

Hammett was born in 1894 in Maryland. Coming from poverty, it didn’t take long for Hammett to eschew formal schooling and enter the working world; he dropped out at age 14. He held a number of jobs before landing a position with the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1915. He worked as an operative with them until joining the military in 1918 (where he would contract the tuberculosis whose effects would plague him for the rest of his life), returning to Pinkerton and remaining until 1922, when his health simply abandoned him.

It was then that Hammett essentially decided that he was going to be a writer. Starting with stories submitted to various publications - primarily the legendary crime fiction magazine Black Mask, but others as well – Hammett made himself into a writer while simultaneously reinventing detective fiction. Hammett’s characters were built on the foundation of Hammett’s own detective experience; these were not the drawing room mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle and his ilk. Hammett’s work was darker and grittier, based in real detective work – and extremely popular.

Battling illness, alcohol dependency and financial stressors, Hammett went on to write five novels in the years between 1929 and 1934. Two of those novels – the aforementioned “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man,” his final book – are now considered part of the American literary canon; all of them, along with the wealth of short fiction, became touchstones that inspired the generations of mystery writers that followed.

One of the fascinating things about great writers is the fact that there are so many different paths that can be followed to achieve that greatness. Now, it’s not like any of these paths are necessarily easier than others. They’re just different. Ward takes great pains to light Hammett’s particular path for us. Through meticulous research, he has shown us just what obstacles Hammett had to overcome, caused by his failures and his successes alike.

The story Ward has constructed in “The Lost Detective” gives us a warts-and-all take on one of the greats. Despite the fact that 1934’s “The Thin Man” was his final novel, Hammett managed to produce an impressive body of work in just a single productive decade. The significance of his contribution to American letters can’t be denied; detective fiction is what it is because of him.

Fans of Hammett, of crime fiction or just biographies in general, will find themselves fascinated by learning just how an unhealthy retired detective forever and irrevocably changed the literary landscape.

[Matt Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dashiell Hammett is a rare writer, in that he completely changed a genre of writing, once thought exploitative and uninventive, and gave detective/crime/noir a new life that continues today. Crime stories aren’t puzzles to be solved by super geniuses anymore. It’s regular people who aren’t that nice or extraordinary, who may or may not be legitimate detectives, just doing boring but necessary work and noticing clues that seem obvious to us because they are. Think Philip Marlowe, Marge Gunderson, Veronica Mars, the guys from Terriers (I can’t be the only one aware of this show’s existence!). Hammett was neo-noir before even noir was a thing saying that, “the puzzle isn’t so interesting to me as the behavior of the detective attacking it.” Ahead of his time, and a personal favorite of mine, it was inevitable I was going to read this.

The book is really telling two stories: the general biography of his life, and giving a detailed account of the world in which Hammett was living in. The book tries to connect the reality of his life & world to his Pinkerton life & beyond. The issue is, nothing can be corroborated, so the book spends a lot of time guessing on what could have inspired him. It’s not that I expected this to answer a lot of question, but it markets itself that way. The subtitle claims it’s about “becoming Dashiell Hammett.” It’s not. It would have been better with just “The Lost Detective” as it’s title, because the book is claiming Hammett, as a person and professional, does not exist anymore. We aren’t seeing his transformation, just the bits of his life that we can prove.

Even with that problem, I still liked the book as it was. Ward made a lot of digressions, which usually happens in these kinds of biographies & annoys me, But I didn’t mind it here. Because the Hammett stuff is kind of thin, Ward has to take a lot of detours in the story, but I like where he takes me. He has one near the beginning about how Pinkerton’s Agency got started (where Hammett allegedly got most of his story material), which I enjoyed learning about despite barely having anything to do with Hammett. He also goes into the Frank Little Lynching, the “Fatty” Arbuckle Trial & the Molly Maguire gang. But as I read the book & it’s many sidetracks, I realized that was the point. Ward is creating the world Hammett lived in, combining it with the few facts we do have & asking us to fill in the blanks. And you know what? I think it works out pretty well.

Once we get the facts and an interesting story, we have enough information to understand how Hammett’s mind and personality was built. Which saves it from being a boring retelling of stuff we already know. Ward does some extensive research here (I’m a librarian I’m allowed to make these kinds of judgments) and is somehow able to deliver everything we need in less than 200 pages. Usually, a nonfiction book like this has a Doris Kearns Goodwin level of length & citations. But Ward knew exactly how to condense it. Ward also worked at American Heritage, a magazine where this kind of story making was done all the time. Well, used to be. It’s kind of in limbo right now. See? Now I’m digressing.

I feel kind of bad rating it just three stars. This was a pretty fun read, but it annoyed me that it was being made into something it’s not. Hammett fans might be divided about this book. It’s informative, but maybe with stuff people already know. I knew little, so I found it interesting. I guess for a beginner, this book is wonderful. For everyone else, it might be like your grandfather telling you a story who then stumbles into another story until you are so confused & irritated that you never go back to visit them at the nursing home. Yeah, it’s a toss up between those two feelings.

[Gail Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

When one thinks of such tales as The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, surely American classics, many would assume that the author was a fascinating character. That may have been true yet much of what we know about Dashiell Hammett is fiction itself as stories that he told have been proven untrue and little of his early writing may be found today. Even suppositions by Ward have scant basis, such as his speculation that working for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency where he was required to submit operative reports sharpened Hammett’s ability to write. However, none of Hammett’s reports can be found in the Pinkerton archives. Nonetheless, The Lost Man is satisfying reading for as his granddaughter notes it gives us a vivid picture of Hammett’s life and times and his early family life (pre-Hellman) as she puts it. The pre-Hellman being a reference to Lillian Hellman to whom Hammett became attached later in his life.

One finds little promise in the young Hammett who left school at 14 in order to help his family financially. He tackled everything from office messenger to paperboy to dock worker, jobs from which he was usually fired. Some five years later he ran across what someone called “the company’s blind recruitment ad,” he replied and was hired by the Baltimore office of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. “Gumshoeing” as he called it was what he really liked, and there can be no doubt that this experience provided material for his future novels.

After a stint in the service he developed tuberculosis and was no longer able to work as a detective, but by that time he had a wife and family to support. What could he do? He wrote. And we are the better for it as his creation of Sam Spade not only gave us great pleasure but was an example for crime writers for years to come.

Nash traces Hammett’s personal life but primarily focuses on his works as he becomes a popular author. Attention is paid to the time he spent in California as the Thin Man movies were being filmed, and his blacklisting. The book ends rather abruptly in 1935 when Hammett was at the peak of his fame, yet it is a fascinating and satisfying examination of this author’s life.

- Gail Cooke

[Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a biography of Dashiell Hammett, this is not it. The Lost Detective very specifically concentrates on Hammett's career as a Pinkerton detective and how those experiences shaped his writing. Fascinating reading.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aptly titled, this book focuses on how Hammett’s early life and career as a Pinkerton Op influenced his future career and style as the hard-boiled writer who created Sam Spade, The Continental Op and The Thin Man.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Lost Detective" is a biography of Dashiell Hammett. The first half of the book talked about Hammett's life before his writing career. The author searched for documents or first hand information about Hammett. However, apparently there is little known about this time except the stories that Hammett told about himself.

Hammett periodically worked for the Pinkerton's, but none of his case reports still remain and Pinkerton's strongly discouraged their employees from telling accurate stories about their work. Nathan Ward related stories that Hammett told about his detective work, compared them to known facts, and generally concluded that they were changed or embellished rather than accurate stories. But Ward describes how the Pinkerton detective methods and case report writing style influenced Hammett's detective fiction.

The second half of the book talked about how Hammett's poor health changed his life and how he got into writing detective fiction. We get details about his health, where he lived, his affairs, his writing, and what was sold to whom. It was interesting how Hammett's gritty, hard-boiled style started a new sub-genre in detective fiction. Again, Ward searched for the facts rather than settling for the legend about Hammett's life, and there was more information available for this time period.

I'd recommend this biography to fans of Dashiell Hammett who want to know more about his life. (I was expecting a strong tie between Hammet's real detective experiences and his fiction, so I'm giving it 3 stars, but it's probably a 4 star when viewed strictly as a biography.)

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Jan C · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my few 5 stars. Very enjoyable biography of his early years, before he became a Pinkerton operative, during his days with Pinkerton, his transition to being a writer. A bit of background on his 5 novels and Continental Op stories. And how he changed a genre and created noir, virtually on his own.

He attended the same high school in Baltimore that my father would eventually go to, Poly. However, unlike my father, Hammett dropped out. Had some minor jobs and saw an ad one day for what looked like a salesman. He showed up and it turned out to be for Pinkerton. He did his share of union busting, was asked to kill someone; worked for them out of Baltimore, Seattle, Spokane and San Francisco. Somewhere in there WWI appeared and he enlisted. He drove an ambulance, much like Hemingway. Apparently he was involved in a motor accident and swore he would never drive again. He never did drive again.

While in the hospital either for the accident or the 1918 flu, he apparently also contracted tuberculosis, which would affect him for the rest of his life. At one point, his future wife nursed him. He would be in and out of hospitals. Did a slide up and down the disability schedule as his disease got better and worse. He also got on and off the Pinkerton payroll depending on his disease. He took a secretarial course to learn to type. Although presumably there had been some typing involved in his operative's reports. He educated himself at the public library. And learned how to write - poetry, short stories and, eventually, novels.

There was a period when he was advised that his TB was so bad that he should be separated from his family. For a time they had separate apartments, at other times his wife and two daughters went back to her home in Montana, where her father was an officer with one of the mining companies.

He wrote The Maltese Falcon in one of these apartments. In fact, he apparently gave Sam Spade his apartment. It is included in the Dashiell Hammett Tour in San Francisco, per the book. One tenant has said it was kind of spooky, knowing that it was both Hammett's and Spade's apartment.

Thus, we are presented with how he learned about the background for most of his stories and novels. Prior to Hammett, detectives (especially, private detectives) had little connection with reality. But he'd had the experience of being on the inside. The only other insider to write about the Pinkertons had been Charles A. Siringo and he'd had some difficulties - lawsuits, trouble getting published because they put the word out. So Hammett knew he had to distance himself and at least change the name of the company.

I loved all of his books and his stories.

The closest one to him is The Thin Man when he shows what it is like to be an ex-detective and suddenly rich. The money Hollywood paid him went to his head and the women and the drinking got out of control. He is even on the cover of the original publication of Thin Man.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. Well written and well researched. Easy to read and hard to put down, even the acknowledgements were interesting due to the explanations that went with each name. I highly recommend this book.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the early life of Dashiell Hammett author of the Maltese Falcon and other noir mysteries and how it influenced his writing style and stories. Although initially interesting, the book loses its focus in the later chapters when it wanders away from Hammett's work as a Pinkerton detective and its influence on his writing, which formed the basic thesis of the book, and discusses his life in Hollywood, his drinking, carousing and affairs with Nell Martin and Lillian Hellman while alluding to his wife and children.

The book fails to discuss his politics other than in the context of work he may have performed or known of from others during his employment as a Pinkerton. It does mention Hammett's failure to write any books after The Thin Man, but provides no background or rationale as to why other than some idle speculation, and does not look critically at the translation of his novels and stories into motion pictures although mentioning them and Hammett's work in Hollywood as a source of income.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography focusing on Hammett's Pinkerton years, and the years when he was actually writing the Black Mask stories and novels, so it ends pretty much when Hammett becomes famous and stops writing. There's lots of good research and reporting in here, with many partial interviews with people who knew Hammett in San Francisco, and worked with him. It has good insight and background on the Pinkertons, and makes a strong case that a lot of Hammett's style, especially in the Op stories, owes a lot to the style of the reports agents of the Pinkertons wrote for their records. Good book, and because it focuses on what we really care about when we read about Hammett, is one of the best biographies.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this book years ago and I forgot to do the review. Having read the “Maltese Falcon” and the “Thin Man” books when I was younger I was always interested in Dashiell Hammett’s life. Here you find out that he drop out of school at the age of 14. Started working and would work numerous jobs including one as a Pinkerton Detective. This little part of his life I had heard or read somewhere. The author goes into his writings and into the making of the films from his books. He also goes into his service in WWI and WWII. Though he does not write anything after the movies are made he is still blacklisted in the ’50s which I did not know about and still did not understand why. I found this to be an enjoyable read I am just sorry I did not do the review sooner. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Edward Champion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my forthcoming Dashiell Hammett essay. An exceptionally superficial "biography" on a true master of the detective story in which every chapter reads as if it was composed during rare moments in which Ward got his Ritalin but then crashed out. Admittedly, there are some good observations here on Hammett's health, which is what caused him to become a writer. And Ward, to his credit, is pretty good about balancing the image of Hammett against the reality. But I was extremely disappointed with how this only works on the surface level. You'd get more about the Pinkerton Agency falling down a random Wikipedia rabbit hole. The notes at the end are embarrassing. I mean, I probably use as many sources for a two thousand word essay as Ward does for an entire book.

[Matt Glaviano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. The first have is all speculative about what may have happened to Hammet while a Pinkerton agent. It completely lacks facts to back it up, and speculative biography is not a genre I want to read. The second half I did not find satisfying. For that part, I guess I wanted more detail.

I don't disagree with the basic premise of the book. I don't feel the author supported their argument well with sourced arguments or strong textual support from Hammet's work.

Pretty much a waste of time. Except I really liked the detail about Hammet staying at Nathaniel West's hotel. That was cool; it was like the Chelsea for mystery authors.

[Chain Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this short, beautifully written little book about Dashiell Hammett's time working as a Pinkerton detective and how it influenced his writing career. It's full of small details that evoke the atmosphere of San Francisco in the 1920s and the familiar noir surroundings of Hammett's books and the movies based on them. Excellent for San Francisco history buffs as well as Hammett fans.

[Louise Davy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell's teeth. What a tough life this chap lived, not to mention his long-suffering wife and kinder. I read Red Harvest from a new perspective.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. I don’t think the info is new, though. I hadn’t seen the pictures before. Now I want to take the Dashiell Hammett tour.

[Víctor Blanco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro breve que te deja con ganas de más, pero muy bien documentado y de ágil lectura. Lo he disfrutado mucho, en especial porque interconecta muy bien la vida del autor con su obra.

[John Raspanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thin, but interesting account of Hammett's detective days.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

note: this was a free eBook from NetGalley

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born on a farm in Maryland in 1894. He was known as “Sam” until he began using his middle name when he became a writer. He left school at thirteen and “knocked” around the country until 1915 when he joined the Pinkerton Agency. He enlisted in the Army in 1918 and served in the Motor Ambulance Corp. However, he became ill with the Spanish Flu and later contracted Tuberculosis. He spent most of his time in the Army as a patient in Cushman Hospital, Tacoma, Washington. While there he met a nurse, Josephine Dolan, whom he later married. They had two girls. In the 20s Hammett lived apart from his family because the doctors were afraid that he would transmit his TB to his daughters. During this time he began to write short detective stories for the “pulp” magazines.

He went back to working for the Pinkerton Agency after the war but had to stop in 1922 because he was so debilitated from the Flu and TB. He had a 100% disability pension from the Army and wasn’t supposed to be working. His work with the Pinkerton Agency provided him with the inspiration for his first character “The Continental Op”. CO was the first “hard-boil” detective, written in Hammett’s distinctive tough guy style. Prior to the CO, all detectives were based on Sherlock Holmes and educated part-time amateurs.

Hammett wrote most of his detective fiction during the period that he was living in San Francisco in the twenties. Specific streets and locations in San Francisco are frequently mentioned in his stories. He was first published in 1922. Mostly known for his authenticity and realism in his writing, Hammett drew on his experiences as a Pinkerton operative (Ward was able to trace some of his stories to actual cases that Hammett worked on as a Pinkerton). Hammett said, "All my characters were based on people I've known personally, or known about from my work as a detective”. Hammett became an alcoholic during this time and also wrote advertising copy to make ends meet.

His five novels that made him famous were all originally published as installments of ‘pulp’ magazines (except for The Thin Man). They were: Red Harvest (published on February 1, 1929), The Dain Curse (July 19, 1929) both featuring the Continental Op, The Maltese Falcon (February 14, 1930) The Glass Key (April 24, 1931) The Thin Man (January 8, 1934). Hammett was brought to Hollywood in the early 30s where he wrote the following screenplays: After the Thin Man", 1936; "Shadow of the Thin Man", 1941; "The Glass Key", 1942; "Watch on the Rhine", 1943.

In early 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hammett again enlisted in the United States Army. He was a disabled veteran of World War I, a victim of tuberculosis, and a Communist, but he pulled strings in the movie community in order to be admitted. He served as a sergeant in the Aleutians Islands, where he edited an Army newspaper. In 1943, while a member of the military, he had co-authored The Battle of the Aleutians with Cpl. Robert Colodny. During this time he developed emphysema

During the 1950s he was investigated by Congress. He testified in 1953 before the House Un-American Activities Committee about his own activities, but refused to cooperate with the committee. His stand led to his being blacklisted, along with others as a result of McCarthy hearings.

In 1931, Hammett embarked on a 30-year affair with playwright Lillian Hellman. He wrote his final novel in 1934. Hellman speculated in a posthumous collection of Hammett's novels that "I think, but I only think, I know a few of the reasons: he wanted to do new kind of work, he was sick for many of those years and getting sicker." He died in 1961 from lung cancer.

Really were written and documented.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com zebsblog@gmail.com

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dashiell Hammett is best known today for the Humphrey Bogart rendition of his novel, The Maltese Falcon, but his influence on the detective novel goes much further. Prior to Hammett’s novels, most popular detective novels featured armchair gentlemen detectives like Sherlock Holmes who sat back and solve entire mysteries with a few clues and deductive reasoning. Hammett, who in his earlier years worked for The Pinkerton Detective Agency, felt that none of these mysteries portrayed real life cases accurately. After being sidelined from the detective business by tuberculosis, Hammett determined that he could write a better mystery and perfected the art of the “hard-boiled” detective novel with its sarcastic, jaded detective and seedy criminals. The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett, chronicles Hammett’s life focusing specifically on the way it influenced his writing.

Author Nathan Ward has written a gem of a biography that provides a new perspective to the life and writings of Hammett. The prose is clean and crisp, not prone to flowery tangents or turns of phrase; it is a writing style Hammett himself would have approved of. In addition to its focus on what influenced Hammett’s writing, the book also attempts to untangle the person of Hammett from the lore; it seems there are often several versions of events in Hammett’s life as Hammett enjoyed employing his talent for spinning a yarn into his own life story. Ward effortlessly follows Hammett from his youth to his final years, allowing the reader a glimpse into the fascinating life of a great writer born out of his experience as a Pinkerton detective.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this biography from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title makes clear, this book sets out to tell us what there is to know about Hammett's work as a detective, and how this life experience informed his writing. Happily, it turns out to be a very interesting story, at least if you have any interest in Hammett, author of "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man." Of course, I saw the movie versions before I read the books, in fact I saw the TV series of the Thin Man with Peter Lawford before I saw the movies. The books are great, and I liked learning more about the circumstances they emerged from, even if it is a sad story in many ways.

When I first moved to San Francisco, I lived in an apartment building on McAllister Street, near City Hall. On weekends, I would look out the window to see a walking tour whose guide was pointing at the building. Eventually I learned that this was the Dashiell Hammett tour. Despite being a fan, I never did take that tour myself. Some years later, I was reading a collection of Hammett's stories about the Continental Op, when I realized the action was getting near to my old neighborhood. In fact, it lead into the building I had lived in, and so I finally learned why it was on the tour.

From reading this book, I learned that an apartment in the Tenderloin where Hammett did some of his best writing is now a kind of museum exhibit, attempting to recreate the look of the place as it was when he live there. I'd like to see that, especially since some version of this apartment appears in The Maltese Falcon as Sam Spade's home.

A fringe benefit of this book is that I now feel moved to go back and read Hammett's work again.

[Lindsay Stares · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review.

Premise: Everyone familiar with Hammett’s writing knows it was inspired by his time as a Pinkerton Detective. But what does that actually mean? Nathan Ward attempts to reconstruct Hammett’s pre-writing career and its impact.


I enjoyed reading this book, but it’s trying to fill a very specific niche. It’s not a complete biography; it’s not much about the later part of Hammett’s life. It is mostly an attempt to reconstruct where and when he worked as a detective and the people or kinds of people he worked with.

There is very little confirmed material to work with, so the author has to rely on third-party recollections or examples from similar operatives and/or operations. He questions the truth of some of the more impressive stories Hammett told about his time with Pinkerton, but replaces the whiz-bang tales with a more grounded sense of the people and cases Hammett would have encountered and what published work they may have later inspired.

The portrait that emerges, of a man always working against the clock of his health, is a compelling one. I also really liked the actual corroborated stories of cases that Pinkerton operatives worked, whether Hammett was involved or not.

However, while I think it succeeded in its specific mandate, I might sometime like to read a more complete biography.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the author Dashiell Hammett's biography. His works include The Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest, The Thin Man and more. This is not your average biography - I thought that it was a fascinating, enjoyable read. Some biographies are written in a documentary style or are a bit dry. The Lost Detective is far from that.

The memoir covers Dashiell Hammett's career as a Pinkerton agent, his short stint in the Army as well as his writing career. It delves into the necessity of having to find a career other than being an agent because of health issues.

We learn that Hammett was a lady's man, extremely intelligent, a very successful operative and then a great writer all despite his health issues. I found it fascinating and I wanted to keep turning pages like I was reading a thriller.

I received this book from Netgalley free in exchange for a review. For more information about Nathan Ward check out http://us.macmillan.com/author/nathan...

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Lost Detective" looks at Dashiell Hammett's early life and experiences as a Pinkerton detective to give context to his career as a mystery writer. Ward does give some very interesting glimpses of Pinkerton cases, and some context to the times that shaped Hammett.
However, the book suffers somewhat from the fact that little is known about Hammett's early life, and what little is known seems often to be exaggerated or inaccurate. While the very fact that Hammett romanticized his own life tells me something about him, I'm left without a greater understanding of the man. At times Ward gives pages of information about related people/incidents, which added color but also made me wonder whether there was enough material for a biography of Hammett. Still, a worthwhile read for those fascinated by the mystery writer.
(Received a copy through NetGalley)

[John Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done shirt book on the life of Dashiell Hammett that covers his time as a detective for Pinkerton's, the beginnings of his writing life and his personal life. Lots of research in this book (read the Acknowledgments) including his daughter's memories. From the Continental OP to Nick and Nora Charles a terrific book.

[False · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could never understand why he wanted anything to do with that bragging liar, Lillian Hellman. Such an odd man. The true thin man. Tubercular. The Pinkerton operative. Left his wife when he realized he was happier being unencumbered. A drunk. Self-educated. Appealing. But then I have a fascination with tall, emaciated men.