Dashiell Hammett Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), the author of Lost Stories, 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, a political activist, and a short story writer.
Joe Gores Joe Gores worked for twelve years as a detective in San Francisco. As a writer of novels, short stories, and screenplays, he has won three Edgar Awards. He has written scripts for Kojak, Columbo, Magnum P.I., Remington Steele, and other television series. He is a past president of the Mystery Writers of America. Gores' popular novels and stories about the detective firm Daniel Kearney Associates are based on his own experiences as a San Francisco private eye. Francis Ford Coppola produced a movie based on Gores' novel Hammett. Mr. Gores is currently writing the novel Spade & Archer, which will be the authorized prequel to The Maltese Falcon.
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Vince Emery Prior to editing Lost Stories, Hammett researcher Vince Emery contributed research and articles to several books about Dashiell Hammett. He also wrote the bestseller How to Grow Your Business on the Internet. Emery lives near San Francisco.
Richard Layman Richard Layman, the editor of Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, has written six books on Dashiell Hammett, including Literary Masterpieces: The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett: A Descriptive Bibliography, and Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett, and had been nominated for another Edgar Award for Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade. He was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for editing Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921-1960. He is vice president of Bruccoli Clark Layman Inc., which produces reference works in literary and social history, including the Dictionary of Literary Biography. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina.
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George J. "Rhino" Thompson A professor's recommendation that he write his doctoral dissertation on Dashiell Hammett led George J. "Rhino" Thompson, the author of Hammett's Moral Vision, to change careers from university English teacher to police officer. He later became the best-selling author of Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion and the founder and president of the Verbal Judo Institute. "Rhino" has been featured on network news on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox, and on the TV programs 48 Hours, Inside Edition, and In the Line of Duty. He lives in upstate New York. His website is www.verbaljudo.com.
William F. Nolan Two-time Edgar Award winner William F. Nolan wrote the first book published about Dashiell Hammett (Dashiell Hammett: A Casebook). Nolan has written or edited more than 70 other books, including nonfiction (The Black Mask Boys; Max Brand, Western Giant; John Huston: King Rebel; McQueen; The Ray Bradbury Companion; Hammett: A Life at the Edge), mystery fiction (The Black Mask Murders, The Marble Orchard, Sharks Never Sleep, Down the Long Night), horror fiction (Things Beyond Midnight, Helltracks), and science fiction, including the Sam Spade series and the million-seller Logan's Run. His book on Grand Pre champion Phil Hill was optioned for films by Mel Gibson. Nolan has also written screenplays for TV shows and movies. In addition to writing, Nolan has raced sports cars, acted in movies and television, and worked as an illustrator and cartoonist. He lives in Bend, Oregon.
