Listen to Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade short stories on line

Don't forget: as you are listening to the old time radio shows, you can surf the web simultaneously.  Kind of like watching and reading the news on CNN and chewing gum at the same time.

 

"I went about in a daze of love [for Spade] such as I had not known for any character in literature since I encountered Sir Launcelot"

Dorothy Parker (New Yorker, April 24, 1931)

 

 

 

STORIES:


The Gold Key Caper

The Death Bed Caper

The Dry Martini Caper

The Bouncing Betty Caper

The Hot Hundred Grand Caper

The Sugar Kane Caper

The Wheel Of Life Caper

The One Hour Caper

The Missing Newshawk Caper

The Mad Scientist Caper

The Lawless Caper


The S.Q.P. Caper

Subject Edith Hamilton
 

Dashiell Hammett - Creator of Sam Spade, The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest, The Glass Key

 

born 1894 - died 1961

Dashiell Hammett had actually worked as a detective (Pinkerton Detective Agency) and is credited with writing the first of the "hard boiled" detectives.  In addition to his novels, he wrote over 80 short stories.  The radio star of "The Adventures of Sam Spade" was Howard Duff.  During the 1950's both Duff and Hammett were accused of being communist.   During a Congressional inquiry, Dashiell Hammett refused to name others or cooperate in any way with those he felt were anti-democratic and went to jail in 1951. 

"When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it.  It doesn't matter any difference what you thought of him.  He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it." - The Maltese Falcon

Hammett described a typical detective as "A little man going forward...through mud and blood and death and deceit - as callous and brutal as necessary."

Listen to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe

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