A California Online Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal
Detective novels set in California—particularly San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara (or Santa Teresa) are particularly attractive to us in the rest of the country. What makes them seem out of the ordinary involves both the paradise syndrome of the California that exists only in our imaginations, as well as the schadenfreude we experience as the underside of the great Hollywood dream factory is lovingly detailed in fiction —especially detective fiction.
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We can thank the bawdy Geoffrey Chaucer and the not-so-bawdy tradition of courtly love for our modern celebration of Valentine’s Day–when couples become the focus of attention. As for St. Valentine himself, church historians have martyrs named Valens, Valentin, or Valentinin but the favorite attribution is that of a Christian priest, Valentine. In the third century AD, he performed marriages for soldiers, all of whom were forbidden to marry by Rome.
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Dashiell Hammett only wrote five novels in his lifetime but mention Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon or The Thin Man and there’s instant recognition. Hammett had a lean writing style that brought gangster slang to everyday language. He started with the hard-boiled detective, a man with no family, few friends, and a self-designed code of honor and with it, he changed the face of detective stories.
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