Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 15 Butch Cassidy and engaged in corporate espionage among miner's unions in Idaho, wrote a book in 1912 called Cow- boy Detective. It was held up for years before the Pinkertons allowed it to be published, and even then, only with names and identifying details changed. Perhaps Hammett thought it was safer to create a fictional world that was in every way legally distinct from whatever actual actions the Pinkerton may have taken against miners, unions, or radicals. The novel has proven to be a resilient and influential text, having been adapted several times into films as diverse as the 1930 crime picture Roadhouse Nights, the Clint Eastwood spa- ghetti western A Fistful of Dollars, the Bruce Willis gangster vehicle Last Man Standing, and the Kurosawa film Yojimbo. And it was also very arguably the first noir novel. The genre, marked by moody atmosphere, stoic detectives, and layers of official corruption, started as a uniquely American form (although the name "noir" comes to us from the French) but has taken root throughout the world. Today, there are avid readers of Italian noir, French noir, English noir, and most notably, Scandinavian noir, the most famous example of which is the mega-blockbuster hit Millenium series by Stieg Larsson. Hammett would go on to write additional crime novels. The Maltese Falcon is also a seminal work in American crime fiction and arguably even more influential than Red Harvest, while The Thin Man was adapted into a series of films starring Montana girl Myrna Loy that are still beloved to this day. • • • Today, when people think of noir, they still picture a pri- vate eye in a suit and fedora, with a sharp tongue and a quick trigger finger. It's become a type exemplified by characters like Philip Marlowe, Jake Gittes, Lew Archer, and Hammett's own Sam Spade. But one thing all of those characters have in common is that they all hung their shingle in sunny Califor- nia amongst the palm trees, orange groves, and moral rot. The Continental Op, for at least one bloody, influential ad- venture, did his detecting in Butte, America. In some sense, all of the American crime writers in the cen- tury since have followed in his footsteps, and, in so doing, have dragged a little Butte dirt through the once-genteel genre. Raymond Chandler once wrote that "Hammett gave mur- der back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse [for a mystery novel]." For our part, we might as easily say he gave murder, or at least a safe and literary form of it, back to Montanans, thou- sands of whom will curl up in the safety of their warm beds this winter with the latest bone-chilling pot-boilers. Maybe even by some of the very authors interviewed in this issue. As they set the book down and turn off the lights, drawing their covers closer around them, they have Dashiell Hammett and a rowdy setting called Butte—er, Personville—to thank for all their violent delights. OPEN APRIL ORPHAN GIRL HELL ROARIN' GULCH. MINE OCTOBER rough Take an and in e (OPEN IN NOVEMBER WEATHER PERMITTING) OPEN UNDERGROUND TOUR EXPLORE THE STREETS OF PURCHASE TICKETS AT WWW.MININGMUSEUM.ORG 155 MUSEUM WAY • BUTTE, MT 59701 • 406-723-7211 1877 Harrison Avenue Butte, Montana 59701 (406) 299-3168 Open 10am – 5pm Wednesday – Friday 11am – 4pm Saturday All New Books, Lake Missoula Teas, Apparel, Coffee, and More!

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