slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Hammett's real life was odd - his partner was communist playwright Lillian Hellman (of whom it was famously said "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'), but he spent years working for strike-busting Pinkertons, even though his sympathies were leftward. Post on it again if you get the time, i'd like to know what it's like.
Didn't finish it - but if you've read my 'Disgust' thread, that won't surpise you and should not be taken as a reflection of it's merit if you're a normal reader (ie without my currently mean streak of intolerance).
Now 63 pages into Jean-Claude Izzo's 'Total Chaos' - bought when I went into Daunt, saw the price of the new Bond book and turned away to find this beautifully designed Europa editions product under my nose - yes - I bought it because of the design - and the genre, of course. Almost gave up ten pages ago when treated to boring biographical material of central character - but now the plot's taken an interesting turn I'm with it again.