Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Think Hammett Never Wrote About Baltimore?

Think again. For Baltimore, Dashiell Hammett, who learned the detective trade in the local Pinkerton office, created the anti-Bond before there was a Bond. In The Assistant Murderer we meet Rush - Alec Rush, the world's ugliest detective. A man with a bulldog's face, a croaking voice, the body and moves of a bear, and a golden smile. Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!

Hammett's favorite among his five novels was The Glass Key, set in an unnamed east coast city. If the city isn't Baltimore and it's train station Mount Royal Station, I'll eat my fedora.

For a Baltimore short story homage to Hammett here's
A Bad Day at the Office.

No comments:

Post a Comment