RARA-AVIS: Hammett: How he made it new?

From: Seth Harwood (sethharw@sethharwood.com)
Date: 28 Jan 2009

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    Gentle Rara-Avians,

    Please indulge a question that might be less obvious to many than it may seem to you. I'm teaching a Detective Fiction class right now in San Francisco and we've started with The Maltese Falcon. I know this is the book to start with, but I'm curious what you all have to say on why? A question I'm posing here is: What did Hammett bring to the fold that was new and started things fresh for our genre?

    We've read "The Simple Art of Murder" and Hillerman's intro to the Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, as well as a number of other things I've been able to find and I'm definitely coming up with some answers. BUT I keep thinking that it'd be interesting to see what you have to say about this.

    Please have at it.

    Seth Harwood author of the JACK WAKES UP Coming May 5, 2009 from Three Rivers Press Join the nation at sethharwood.com, become a Palms Daddy/Momma!

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