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Professional Crime-Writers and Crime-Fighters

12 June 2022 – From the Memoirs of a Private Detective

by mystery guest.

This piece appeared in ‘Smart Set Magazine’ in 1923.

Robert Lopresti

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A PRIVATE DETECTIVE

by Dashiell Hammett

1.Wishing to get some information from members of the WCTU in an Oregon city, I introduced myself as the secretary of the Butte City Purity League. One of them read me a long discourse on the erotic effects of cigarettes upon young girls. Subsequent experiments proved this tip worthless.

2.A man whom I was shadowing went out into the country for a walk one Sunday afternoon and lost his bearings completely. I had to direct him back to the city.

3.House burglary is probably the poorest paid trade in the world. I have never known anyone to make a living at it. But for that matter few criminals of any class are self-supporting unless they toil at something legitimate between times. Most of them, however, live on their women.

Interesting History of the writer of The Maltese Falcon, the author of the Sam Spade Detective stories

The full Article is as: https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2022/06/from-memoirs-of-private-detective.html?sc=1655072656414#c2687543333977891853