Fri 25 Oct 2024
Diary Review / Stories I’m Reading: DASHIELL HAMMETT “Fly Paper.”
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Stories I'm Reading[5] Comments
DASHIELL HAMMETT “Fly Paper.” First published in Black Mask, August 1929. Collected in The Big Nightmare (Random House, 1966).
“It was a wandering daughter job.” Sue Hambledon had disappeared with hoodlum Babe McCloor. The Continental op finds her dead, poisoned by the arsenic from fly paper, the mere thought of which is enough for memories of cheap desolation. (4)
— September 1968.
October 25th, 2024 at 11:12 pm
I think I remember this one. Was this the tale where the murderer somehow soaks fly-paper in order to distill the poison from it into a vial? Leading investigators with no clue as to where he obtained it?
October 26th, 2024 at 2:22 am
Was episode 13 of the Showtime Fallen Angels TV series, script by Donald Westlake and featured Christopher Lloyd as the Op. On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlB1neRx_ks
October 26th, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Wow, thank you, Bill. I’d given up hope of ever seeing *any* of the FALLEN ANGELS series, and not only does this fellow have “Fly Paper,” but maybe a half dozen more. Super, super, super!
October 26th, 2024 at 7:03 am
Your classic opening line.
October 28th, 2024 at 7:50 am
Another Gem from Hammett! This story appeared one issue before part 1 of The MALTESE FALCON , Sept. 1929. There are one or two ad/editorial pages telling about how great TMF will be. Truth in advertising!!