The Black Mask Murders: A Novel Featuring the Black Mask Boys, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner (Hardcover)

~ William F. Nolan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran author Nolan ( Logan's Run ) launches a series to be narrated by those crime writers he calls "The Black Mask Boys"--Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Erle Stanley Gardner. Hammett leads off this 1935 plot, jam-packed with movie stars and moguls, gangsters, blackmailers, nasty pre-Miranda cops and even a gem-encrusted human skull dating from the Crusades. Readers will be reminded less of The Maltese Falcon than of Hammett's early pulp fiction. This tale, featuring some incredibly daring sleuthing by all three writers-made-characters, moves along like a crumpled cocktail napkin caught up in the windstorm and seems to have about the same weight in the end. Cameo appearances include those by Scott Fitzgerald and Heinie Faust, who wrote as Max Brand (and other names). Nolan dredges up some pretty portentous prose in this plumbing of the past (an encounter with Fitzgerald leaves Dash ruminating: "All that talent--and all that booze. A bad combination"). Of interest as a period piece and for its insider allusions, this is no hard-boiled tale.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Dashiell Hammett was a real-life detective as well as the author of several classic detective novels, including The Maltese Falcon. Now he's also a fictional character, the narrator of this series debut that also features two of Hammett's fellow contributors to Black Mask magazine, Erle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler. The real author, William Nolan, is a scholar of Black Mask-era fiction and the author of Hammett: Life at the Edge (1987). Set in Hollywood shortly before the appearance of the Falcon movie, the story finds Hammett asked to deliver a jewel-encrusted ruby to a local mobster. A shootout occurs, and the bad guy gets the icon and the girl for which it was to serve as ransom. Hammett, Gardner, and Chandler work to recover both the jewel and the girl. Nolan mixes as many biographical facts into the narrative as possible, serving up a healthy portion of literary history along with the action. There's gunplay, humor, and just enough realism to humanize Hammett and his cronies. The premise may ultimately wear thin, but for now, it's perfectly good fun for the hard-boiled crowd. Wes Lukowsky

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312109423
• ISBN-13: 978-0312109424
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,891,523 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Danger of Sudden Riches, March 21, 2007

By	Acute Observer (North Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This 1994 novel is set in Southern California in the 1930s. It blends historical facts about real people with fictional characters for a mystery thriller. Copyright law prevents the use of a "Sam Spade", "Perry Mason", or "Philip Marlowe" but there is no restriction on using their authors. [Isn't that funny?] You will best appreciate this story if you've read those authors. This novel does not copy the styles of those authors, or reflect the life and speech of the 1930s novels. I've read that William F. Nolan wrote many of the scripts to the late, great "Twilight Zone" TV series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. One example where topics could be described as fiction rather than get bogged down in facts.

Chapter 1 introduces us to Hammett and his career. Sylvia Vane tells him about her gambling losses, and wonders if the roulette wheel is rigged. [Would a gambler ever give a sucker an even break?] She asks Dash to check it out, and makes an offer he can't refuse. This gambling ship sails past the 3-mile limit where state laws do not apply (Chapter 2). There is the usual electric atmosphere of a gambling casino to attract people who want to lose their money [the psychology of gambling]. Dash sees how the brake on the roulette wheel is used, but is caught and tossed off the ship! [Sam Spade wouldn't have been caught.] Next Sylvia Vane is stabbed to death in her lavish home (Chapter 4). A new development brings Hammett to New York to solve the kidnapping of Clare (Sylvia's daughter). Hammett will carry the jeweled skull to pay off the kidnapper. [Why not secure shipping?]

Chapter 6 tells how Hammett, Chandler, and Gardner try to rescue Clare from where they think she is being held. There is an explosion on the ship, but they cannot save Clare. [In Chapter 8 Nolan questions A.C. Doyle's character Professor Moriarty. Gerald Sparrow's "Vintage Victorian Murder" tells of Sayers the barrister who ran London crime for twenty years. Don't criticize what you don't understand.] Hammett and Gardner follow a lead to San Francisco but it doesn't pan out. Nolan shows his writing skills (Chapter 11). Chapter 13 describes a live radio show from the 1930s. Nolan also shows his knowledge of writers here. An "executive producer" is the guy who puts up the money for a film (Chapter 13). No mention here of Wall Street money.

They follow a lead to a curio shop, but the owner will tell no tales (Chapter16). Hammett fails to pass in disguise (Chapter 17). A chance acquaintance of Hammett tells him what she learned (Chapter 18). [The scenes in Chapter 19 seem like a caricature.] There is one big surprise! You can decide if the ending is believable (Chapter 20). [The quote "it was easy" sounds like from Mickey Spillane.] The "Cat's Eye" is certainly the stuff dreams are made from. [Was Hammett himself following a false idol?] This is an interesting novel. Few have blended fact with fiction and the results are not that great (the deus ex machina ending).