However, I doubt the story really is a true crime story as
the character of
Bob Teal appears as a supporting character in "Slipery
Fingers" which is a
Continental Op story.
In "Slipery Fingers" Teal is described as "a youngster who
will be a
world-beater some day"
In "Who Killed..." as "if ever a man had the makings of a
crack detective
in him, this slender, broad-shouldered lad had." And it also
indicates his
youth.
The familiar character of the Old Man, head of the San
Francisco branch of
the Continental Detective Agency also appears and the story
is bylined by
Hammett as an operative for the Continental Detective Agency,
which only
exists in Hammetts Op stories.
It seems to me that this is an op story that was sold as a
true crime story
to fit the market. Even the editor of the anthology, Marc
Gerald, in his
introduction admits that the truthfullness of the story is in
doubt.
I'll have to look for "Art of the Mystery Story."
>
> Re Duane's question below:
>
> "I wondered whether Hammett ever wrote any
non-fiction, particularly
> about actual crimes -- perhaps info on some of the
cases he
> investigated as a Pinkerton."
>
> Hammett wrote one article, something along the lines
of "Memoirs of a
> Private Detective" for, I believe, *Saturday Review*.
It was
> reprinted in *The Art of the Mystery Story* edited by
Howard Haycraft
> in the mid-40s. One of his Continental Op stories,
"Who Killed Bob
> Teal?" was rejected by *Black Mask*, so he added a
paragraph at the
> beginning asserting that the story was true, with
names and locales
> changed, and re-submitted it to *True Detective*
where it a appeared
> as a truce crime article. How much it was based on an
actual case is
> anyone's guess. The plot involved the Op trying to
solve the murder
> of his partner in circumstances virtually identical
to those
> surrounding the murder of Miles Archer in *The
Maltese Falcon*. The
> Op figures out who the killer is by using the same
reasoning Spade
> uses to figure out who killed Archer in *Falcon*. -
Jim Doherty
>
Warren Harris
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