Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett: 1921-1960

A literary event: The first-ever selection from the letters of Dashiell Hammett, the genius of American crime fiction.

"This book is a thing of beauty, from concept to execution, taking us all the way down to the life-marrow of hardboiled's one true icon. Under Richard 'Shadow Man' Layman's masterful guidance, we find what Hammett sought (and fought for) his entire life...Truth." —Andrew Vachss.

More than any book before it, this one gives us the complete Hammett, in his own words. Here is Hammett the family man, distant but devoted, sometimes late with the check but never too late; Hammett the student of politics, scanning the headlines from a Marxist perspective; Hammett the lover of Lillian Hellman, delighting in her style, humor, accomplishments but maintaining his independence. Celebrity, soldier, activist, survivor—Hammett was each in turn, but he was always, above all else, a writer. The artist is present in every line, and this book adds to his stature as a classic American writer.

Author Biography: Richard Layman is the author of Shadow Man (1981), the first full biography of Dashiell Hammett, and the vice president of Bruccoli Clark Layman, a publisher of reference works in literature. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina. Julie M. Rivett is a granddaughter of Dashiell Hammett, and Josephine Hammett Marshall is his daughter. They live in Southern California.