The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook by Don Herron guides readers to mysterious places of writer Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, and Sam Spade San Francisco, Calif. - 16 May, 2009 - The new book The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook by Don Herron celebrates three decades of America's longest-running literary tour, guided by Herron in San Francisco since 1977. In this thirtieth anniversary edition of his popular guidebook (first published in 1979), Herron takes readers over the fog-shrouded streets stalked by Sam Spade, the Continental Op, and other legendary characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Hammett is San Francisco's most famous mystery writer, so the tour also highlights the places in San Francisco where Hammett lived and worked as a detective and writer. "Herron's writing makes The Dashiell Hammett Tour a fun book to read even for people who don't visit San Francisco," said publisher Vince Emery. "Whether you want to take the tour as a walk, a drive in your car, or an armchair adventure, Herron's book is the most entertaining and most fact-packed guide to Hammett's mysterious San Francisco." Readers of The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook can: See every known place where Hammett lived in San Francisco. Visit the majority of settings from The Maltese Falcon. Prowl back alleys where the Continental Op fought hard-boiled crooks with a blazing .38. Shadow Sam Spade in his quest for a mysterious black bird. Follow Hammett himself as he works for the Pinkerton's Detective Agency on the infamous Fatty Arbuckle case. See the spot where Spade's partner Miles Archer met his swift death in the night-fog. The expanded and revised The Dashiell Hammett Tour includes a new preface by Hammett's daughter Jo and an introduction by best-selling author Charles Willeford. Herron sets the stage with an overview of Hammett and his works. The tour sections follow, including 8 maps for self-guided walking and driving tours, step-by-step directions, detailed descriptions of 40 mysterious sites, and dozens of photos showing sites in Hammett's day and now. The book concludes with a new afterword by Herron describing the origin of the tour and the famous people and surprising events he's encountered during the last thirty years. The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook by Don Herron will be available March 16, 2009, published by Vince Emery Productions. About Don Herron Don Herron has led the Dashiell Hammett Tour in San Francisco since 1977, becoming a living institution in the City by the Bay. He is the author of The Literary World of San Francisco, as well as Willeford, a biography of crime writer Charles Willeford, and The Dark Barbarian, on writer Robert E. Howard. Herron has appeared frequently in the media, including PBS and BBC television. He figures he reached the peak of his fame when he turned up on the television quiz show Jeopardy!. Category: American Cities. "The city in which Don Herron leads the Dashiell Hammett Tour." The button is hit. "What is San Francisco?" Of course. More about Don Herron About Dashiell Hammett Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was one of the world's most popular and influential writers. Famous as the best-selling creator of Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon, and The Thin Man, Hammett was also a Pinkerton's detective, an advertising man, a soldier in the U.S. Army during both World Wars, an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, and a political activist. The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook by Don Herron Clothbound hardcover; 224 pages; 60 photographs, 2 illustrations, 8 maps $19.95 U.S./$24.95 Canada; ISBN 978-0-9725898-7-1 Publisher: Vince Emery Productions To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax IPG at (312) 337-5985, phone IPG at (800) 888-4741, or contact Ingram, Baker & Taylor, or other book distributors.