Dashiell Hammett News

The dark and seedy underbelly of Southern California in the 1940's and 50's is the setting for Film Noir UnScripted.  Join Impro Theatre for a night of shadowy tales featuring villains, dangerous dames and a trench-coated detective, all performed without a clue - except for your suggestions.  Inspired by such authors as James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett and La Jolla's own Raymond Chandler, Impro Theatre cuts to the funny bone in this hard-boiled, completely improvised evening of seduction and murder.  

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 207 th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the Nominees for the 2016 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2015.

Park Square continues its 41st season next month with the Minnesota premiere of the musical comedy MURDER FOR TWO on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage. The whodunit by Kellen Blair (book and lyrics) and Joe Kinosian (book and music) is the perfect blend of music, mayhem and murder. In this hilarious 90-minute show, two performers play thirteen roles -- not to mention the piano -- in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries.

The critically acclaimed solo show, 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick: A Dirk Darrow Investigation will make its New York Premiere at the 6th Annual United Solo Theatre Festival on September 29th. The comedic solo show originally premiered at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2014 where it enjoyed a nearly sold-out run. The show is written and performed by award winning comic Tim Motley who was born in New York and raised in Australia where he currently resides. The show and character was inspired by an obscure short story written by the master crime fiction writer, Dashiell Hammett. 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick is currently touring the World, recent tour stops include London, Toronto, San Francisco, Melbourne, Perth, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

Park Square continues its 41st season next month with the Minnesota premiere of the musical comedy MURDER FOR TWO on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage. The whodunit by Kellen Blair (book and lyrics) and Joe Kinosian (book and music) is the perfect blend of music, mayhem and murder. In this hilarious 90-minute show, two performers play thirteen roles -- not to mention the piano -- in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries.

While pop culture movies, TV and games remain the strength of Dragon Con, Galaxy Press was happy to report that book sales were improved over previous years.

Park Square continues its 41st season next month with the Minnesota premiere of the musical comedy MURDER FOR TWO on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage. The whodunit by Kellen Blair (book and lyrics) and Joe Kinosian (book and music) is the perfect blend of music, mayhem and murder. In this hilarious 90-minute show, two performers play thirteen roles -- not to mention the piano -- in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries.

Remarking on the distinction between English drawing room mysteries and America's hard-boiled crime dramas, Raymond Chandler famously wrote that his role model, Dashiell Hammett, “gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse.”

Longboat Key, Florida (PRWEB) May 30, 2015

Marquis Publishing, an affiliate of the Marquis Gallery announces the release of the edition 'The Topography of Evil: Notorious Northern California Murder Sites.' The paperback and eBook is California author and photographer Marques Vickers' visual return to 43 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking narratives behind each tragedy. Over 95 visual images amplify the experience by escorting the reader to the precise physical location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. 'Obscured by time and collective memory,' notes Vickers' preface, 'revisiting a dormant crime scene is a process of comprehending the convergence of evil absorbed into a physical space. Crime scenes typically revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. The captured snapshots portray searing testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence.' Northern California has been the residence for many notorious individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski, Dan White, Edmund Kemper III, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, Juan Corona and Scott Peterson. The media has renamed some such as the Trailside Killer, Co-ed Killer, Children of Thunder, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. Over 40+ convicted or deceased murderers are profiled including 24 who remain incarcerated and 5 awaiting execution at San Quentin Prison. The region has also buried notables among the profiled victims including San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Oscar Grant III, Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson and 412 unclaimed bodies from the People's Temple Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana. "The Topography of Evil" edition is segmented into seven categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of each profile, crucial issues and questions are raised regarding capital punishment, American racial perceptions, parental influences, media reporting, public bias, self-incrimination protections and the fairness of judicial sentencing. A controversial alternative of voluntary euthanasia for the condemned is raised following the observation of California's hopelessly backlogged number of inmates awaiting execution. Currently 743 inmates are sentenced to Death Row. Florida is second with 403 and Texas third at 276. The last California execution was in 2006. An extensive listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered in the California penal system is identified by their respective current penitentiary, verdict and length of original jury sentencing. Vickers' own introduction to the consequences of murder commenced with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author's hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of the author through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and ultimately thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. The 294-page paperback edition is available through Amazon.com and in electronic format via the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook stores. Supplementary promotional videos on numerous chapter including Huey Newton, Brooke Hart, Fishhead Beach Killings and the Marin County Courthouse Massacre are available on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. A southern California version is current in the production stages. For further information regarding Marquis Publishing, visit TopographyofEvil.com and InsiderSeriesBooks.com. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category) Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Oakland Times Journalist Chauncey Bailey, The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre and The Contract Killing of Joseph 'The Animal' Barboza. Abductions: San Francisco's Kevin Collins, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Kristin Smart, Brooke Hart and the Resulting 1933 San Jose Public Lynching, Heiress Patty Hearst, Petaluma's Polly Klaas and San Luis Obispo's Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford. Historical Legacies: Dashiell Hammett's Miles Archer, Chinatown Gangster Fung 'Little Pete' Jing Toy and Mysterious Rumors involving Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Mary Ellen Pleasant and American President Warren Harding Reckless Homicides: Oscar Grant III, O'Farrell Theatre's Artie Mitchell, Diane Whipple Dog Mauling, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Laci Peterson and Multiple Police Officer Killer Lovelle Mixon Unsolved Murders: Ashkenaz Performance Owner David Nadel, The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen on Fish Head Beach. Rampage Mass Murders: Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple Massacre, The Helzer Brothers and the Children of Thunder, The 101 California Building Rampage, Dr. Victor Ohta mansion burning and mass slaying, The 1977 Golden Dragon Bloodbath, Carmel Valley's Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, The Oikos University Shootings, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings and Morro Bay's Lynwood 'Jim' Drake rampage. Serial Killers: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, 'Co-ed Killer' Edmund Kemper III, 'Sacramento Vampire' Richard Trenton Chase, Juan Corona, Herbert Mullin, 'Death House Landlady' Dorothea Puente, 'Trailside Killer' David Carpenter, The San Francisco Zebra Killings and Zodiac Killer.

Van H. Avram, PI, stumbles from case to case, getting by on his good looks and appeal to desperate dames. But when a missing-person case dumps the body of a skinny blond thing on his doorstep, he finds himself plummeting into the clutches of an underworld intent on human sacrifice. An ancient evil rises up to destroy the world and, without asking for it, Van is thrust into the role of savior. As realityand the occasional buildingcollapses around him, he's chased, battered, and seduced by demons, vampires and unhinged women, all against a background of a war-ravished world wrapped up in vintage fashions and flying diesel-powered vehicles. Time ticks down to a do-or-die moment as the fate of the universe is decided in one final battle. But to save the universe, Van must face his own demons and an unremembered past. Recent Praise for Sucker: 'A brilliantly humorous mashup fantasy-sci-fi-Noir....Sucker is something of a Bladerunner-style novel, but it has a distinct Bugsy Malone humor to it, with vampires to boot. As usual, Lingane has managed to throw a bunch of genres at the wall and they have melded beautifully into this universe where he is the creator of some pretty amazing sequences....Thoroughly recommended to anyone who enjoys a detective novel with a twist.' - SelfPublishingReview.com 'It begins as a normal missing person case for PI Van H Avram but then all hell is let loose. Oh yes, the author/genre chameleon Mark Lingane goes back to detective noir/fantasy/sf also raising suspicions that he's the literary love child of Dashiell Hammett and Neil Gaiman.' - the Bookbag Sucker is available in print and ebook formats. Book Details: Sucker By Mark Lingane Publisher: Insync Holdings Published: March 1, 2015 ISBN: 978-1508455981 ASIN: B00TJ9D802 Pages: 260 About The Author: Mark Lingane was first published at the ripe old age of eight, when a local newspaper published his review of Disney on Ice. The next time his name was in print was a life time later at the age of fifteen, when a national magazine ran his review of the Commodore 64. It was downhill from there, picking up a weekly column in the Sunday Times which funded a rather noncommittal path through university, studying a wide range of topics from Robotics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Computer Science, and Psychology. In fact so many subjects were studied he was eligible for graduation at the end of his second year, based purely on attendance. He finally left and joined the corporate world before realizing work isn't that much fun, and going back to study. Further writing followed with regular columns for various technology magazines and newspapers around the country. Then as the reality of permanent food and shelter began to bare its teeth, another attempt at the corporate world beckoned as a technical writer, which turned out okay. Shifting from technology companies to resource companies provided the opportunity to travel and live in some desolate and exotic locations. For review copies, author interviews, or more information please contact: Mark Lingane Email: ilingane (at) me.com Website: http://mark-mywords.co Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Lingane-Author/415083398556570 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkLingane

42nd Street Moon presents the first post-Broadway prouction of NICK & NORA at The Eureka Theatre, San Francisco, CA, from tonight, April 1-19, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

San Francisco's elegant Four Seasons hotel, its ballroom transformed into a mesmerizing swirl of vibrant, electric colors, provided the dramatic setting for California Shakespeare Theater's 20th annual gala, Play It Forward, on Saturday, March 14, 2015. Led by Gala Chair Maureen Knight, the event grossed $600,000 and welcomed more than 300 attendees.

42nd Street Moon presents the first post-Broadway prouction of NICK & NORA at The Eureka Theatre, San Francisco, CA, from April 1-19, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

Among the heavy hitters in the history of American crime fiction, the late Elmore Leonard was something of a 'tweener': not quite as purely entertaining as Donald Westlake, not as morally serious as Patricia Highsmith or Ross MacDonald, not as stylistically interesting as Raymond Chandler or as close to the no-nonsense bone as James M. Cain (who probably makes for the best comparison).

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that the final Film Comment Double Feature of 2014, on December 2, will be Fred Zinnemann's last two films.

On May 27, 2014, Penguin Classics will release two previously unpublished works by renowned literary wit Dorothy Parker and her biographer Marion Meade. ALPINE GIGGLE WEEK: How Dorothy Parker Set Out to Write the Great American Novel and Ended Up in a TB Colony Atop an Alpine Peak is a hilarious and practically unknown letter by Dorothy Parker written to her publishers in 1930 (A Penguin Classics Special; On Sale: May 27, 2014; ISBN: 9780698153776; $1.99). THE LAST DAYS OF DOROTHY PARKER: The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendshipby biographer Marion Meade draws from new research to recount Dorothy Parker's last days before her death and the bizarre and unceremonious treatment of her remains following it (A Penguin Classics Special; On Sale: May 27, 2014; ISBN: 9781101627211; $2.99).

On May 27, 2014, Penguin Classics will release two previously unpublished works by renowned literary wit Dorothy Parker and her biographer Marion Meade. ALPINE GIGGLE WEEK: How Dorothy Parker Set Out to Write the Great American Novel and Ended Up in a TB Colony Atop an Alpine Peak is a hilarious and practically unknown letter by Dorothy Parker written to her publishers in 1930 (A Penguin Classics Special; On Sale: May 27, 2014; ISBN: 9780698153776; $1.99). THE LAST DAYS OF DOROTHY PARKER: The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendshipby biographer Marion Meade draws from new research to recount Dorothy Parker's last days before her death and the bizarre and unceremonious treatment of her remains following it (A Penguin Classics Special; On Sale: May 27, 2014; ISBN: 9781101627211; $2.99).

42nd Street Moon, San Francisco's only resident professional musical theatre company, has announced the lineup for its 22nd season of presenting rare and uncommon musical theater. Says Producing Director Stephanie Rhoads, "For 2014-2015, we're offering ESCAPADE! - a season of capers, sprees, hijinks, japery, and intrigues, to help audiences escape their day-to-day troubles with five spectacular American musicals from Broadway greats such as Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse, Richard Maltby, Sandy Wilson, Frank Loesser, George Abbott, Dorothy Fields and Arthur Laurents."

LOS ANGELES, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ 'Rise, Rise, Dark Horses of American Noir' by Konrad Ventana is a unique and stylized novel that combines classic hard-boiled detective noir with modern-day forensic investigation to expose one of the most unspeakable tragedies of the past century. In this stunning work of literary fiction, Konrad Ventana plumbs the depths of human depravity and complicity with a lyrical intensity that increases with dramatic action and mounting suspense to a fever pitch, vividly revealing the shock and horror of institutionalized crime.