1920's The Arts | "From the Memoirs of a Private Detective"

Magazine article

By: Dashiell Hammett

Date: 1923

Source: Hammett, Dashiell. "From the Memoirs of a Private Detective." The Smart Set, March 1923. Reprinted in The Thrilling Detective Website. Available online at http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/hammett2.htm; website home page: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/index.html (accessed August 14, 2002).

About the Author: Writer Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) originated the "hardboiled" detective story genre. Born in Maryland, Hammett dropped out of school at thirteen to help support his family. He was a messenger boy, railroad clerk, and stevedore before starting detective work in 1915. Hammett's fiction drew on his investigative experiences. His most famous story, The Maltese Falcon,...