Wherein I talk a little about what’s up in the Shamus Game, for better or worse, offer an opinion or two, and point toward a few recent links I thought may warrant further investigation. Feel free to comment below, or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
- Cry Havoc, and Let Slip the Dogs of Public Domain
2026 looks to be a banner year (and January a banner month) for the expiration of copyright for numerous crime and mystery classics, including The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple’s debut), The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, the Bungalow Mystery, the Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene (the first four Nancy Drews), and Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (Wimsey!).
And of course one of the stone cold classics of the Shamus Game: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.
You may have heard of it.
Slipping into public domain, of course, means that there will be a deluge of reissues by an array of publishers ranging from scrupulously good and true right through to fly-by-night bottom feeders.
Naturally much of the spotlight is on the much hyped The Return of the Maltese Falcon by Shamus-winning Max Allan Collins (review to come) and Hard Case Crime, a brand new novel that features Sam Spade wading through the immediate aftermath of the original hunt for the black bird. It’s a bold, audacious move, scrupulously timed to release just as the copyright gates opened, and it’s joined by at least two respectful reissues of the original novel worth investigating.
A labour of love and respect, the handsome Poltroon Press Edition features twenty-two black and white photographs from modern-day San Francisco, plus two two linked Spade short stories from PI writer and photographer Mark Coggins, creator of acclaimed modern-day San Francisco private eye August Riordan.
Meanwhile, the “Black Mask Authorized Edition” (available in both hardcover and paperback) by the mighty pulp revivalists Steeger Press, offers the original, serialized version of the novel first serialized in the legendary pulp mag. They promise a “grittier, more explosive version that many aficionados regard as superior to the later hardcover text.” They toss in the original pulp artwork, and an intro by pulp expert Will Murray to sweeten the pot.
Those are the two reissues that really caught my eye, but there are at least a dozen more in various formats that have popped up on Amazon and other online vendors so far, although judging just by their often quickie AI-generated covers, sometimes poor formatting and cut-and-paste descriptions (a few from this site!), you might wanna investigate a little before hitting the “BUY ME” button.
By the way, some of these re-issues listed online actually predate the novel’s slide into public domain. WTF? - Best Private Eye Stories Of The Year 2025 Now Available | Buy this book | Kindle it!
The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year, the first in what I hope will be an annual anthology celebrating the best private eye short stories published each year, is now available! Series editor Michael Bracken welcomes Matt Coyle as guest editor for this first volume and I’m jazzed to have been invited to pen “The Year in Review,” an essay looking at the 2024’s significant events in private eye fiction. But honestly? I’d have been jazzed even if I wasn’t part of the whole thing, and I’m really looking forward to reading some of the stories I might have missed (I can’t read everything!).
By the way, does anyone actually have a paperback copy? I ordered mine a month or so ago, and am still waiting. And waiting… (December 2025) - Drop the Pen!: What Every Writer Should Know About Real Police Work: Handcuffs
David Lane Williams gives us the skinny on handcuffs, courtesy of the good folks at Killer Nashville. I don’t know why, but I thought this was a fascinating bit. (December 2925) - Poker Face to Get a New Poker Face?
Rumours have it that Rian Johnson’s recently cancelled but most excellent Peacock show will return for a third season, but with a new face for Charlie Cale. And that new face belongs to… Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones and a recent memorable appearance in The Lowdown. The new plan is to recast Charlie every couple of seasons, with Natasha Lyonne, the original Charlie, still involved as an executive producer. Johnson hopes his “wild swing” will attract the notice of another network. Bullshit? (November 2025) - The Strand Digs Up Another Bit of Chandlerania
Ooops, they’re done it again. The Strand Magazine continues to sift through the droppings, looking for more long-lost nuggets from some of the masters of crime fiction, and this go-round features “Nightmare,” a newly discovered Raymond Chandler manuscript, found in the papers of his longtime secretary. Authenticated by leading scholars, it supposedly “delivers Chandler’s signature darkness, razor-sharp irony, and moral force.” But relax — it’s just a snippet, a few hundred words long, a surreal vignette of a guy having a bad dream that involves incarceration, a murder he doesn’t remember committing and a piano. - Newberry Crime Writing Workshop Set for 2026
It’s just been announced that South Carolina’s historic campus of Newberry College will be hosting an intensive four-week writers’ workshop for developing crime and mystery authors, taught by major figures in the field. The inaugural workshop will take place July 6-31, 2026, with each week’s session to be led by an instructor who is active in the crime writing field. The instructors for 2026 include noir and private eye writers Joe R. Lansdale, Cheryl Head and Michael Bracken, as well as Dr. Warren Moore, professor of English, NCWW co-director, no stranger to the darker side of crime fiction himself.
“Newberry College has always been about helping people grow and develop their vocations, whether that has meant a traditional career or some other gift,” says Moore. “This workshop is another way of doing that – we’re working to grow the community of crime and mystery writers, and to keep a popular and powerful genre of fiction vital for today and tomorrow.”Only fifteen applicants will be accepted, so here’s the full press release. - John Rain coming to AppleTV+?
In August 2025, Barry Eisler announced that his bestselling John Rain series, about a half-Japanese, half-American assassin who specializes in “accidents,” is being adapted for Apple TV+. There have been a few previous attempts to bring Rain to the screen — notably a feature film by Barrie Osborne, Oscar-winning producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a television series with Keanu Reeves as Rain both faltered. Eisler, however, seems genuinely excited about this one, and given AppleTV+’s success with similarly darker-themed material (cf: Slow Horses, Black Bird, Dope Thief, etc.), I am as well. This could be killer. - “Mockingbird” by Mark Coggins (July/August 2025, electica.org; by Mark Coggins)
As the copyrights fall, expect more and more appearances of Sam Spade. Kicking off the deluge is Coggins’ original short story, featuring Hammett’s Sam Spade, and it’s a good one. It was even first-drafted on Raymond Chandler’s Olivetti Studio 44, of all things. - On Continuing The Work Of Dashiell Hammett
The afterword from Max Allan Collins’s upcoming (January 2026) sequel to The Maltese Falcon lifts the lid on his relationship with the novel, and gives us a good look at the works. (April 2025, CrimeReads) - Classic Private-Eye Detective Novels: A Starter Pack
The New York Times‘ mystery columnist, the Devine Ms. Sarah Weinman, gives you the skinny on all those hard-boiled eyes going down all those mean streets rooting out all those dark truths. My, what great taste you have. (March 21, 2025, The New York Times) - Eight Great Noir Thrillers by Sara Gran
What’s up with The New York Times? First Sarah’s list, now this. The creator of Claire DeWitt lists eight of her noir faves, and it’s a great list. For those of you who can’t get by the Times pay wall, here they are (without her sharp and savvy commentary). - “LA Conflagrational”
In the March 10, 2025 issue of The New Yorker, staff writer Anthony Lane waxes poetic on Ross Macdonald‘s Lew Archer novel The Underground Man, which he tags “the classic mystery that prefigured The Los Angeles wildfires.” It was published in 1971 — over fifty years ago. (March 2025)
- The Private Eye Writers Bulletin Board
What’s the buzz, cuz? My latest hare-brained scheme to drive traffic to this site is The Private Eye Writers Bulletin Board. If you’re a private eye writer, and you’ve got something coming out in the next little while (a book, a short story, a movie deal, whatever, please let me know via email (or DM me, for you youngsters) and I’ll post the news on this page. Feedback so far seems positive, but we’ll see.
AND DON’T FORGET
- Word on the Street
A listing of new Hardcovers, Paperbacks, Audio, eBooks, Collections & Anthologies, Non-fiction, Reference & True Crime, Comics & Graphic Novels and DVDs & Blu-Rays. - The P.I. Calendar
The latest P.I. happenings around the world… and maybe your hometown.
Hello, I just read your interview with Robert Crais re Demolition Angel and I was shocked. Pleasantly. Impressed. So how do I ‘follow you’–I am not very erudite in these matters. Eg, I follow Crais, ‘website’. I SEE your website but not sure how to ‘subscribe’, if thats the right word. Med school was easy, this isn’t. Thanks!
Froggie (my writing handle)
STOP FOLLOWING ME OR I’LL GET A RESTRAINING ORDER!!!
Oh, wait, sorry, I thought you were “Kyle.” To follow me, there should be a small widget in the bottom right of each page, when viewing the site on a computer. On phones and tablets, it’s at the very, very bottom.
I’m new to this site and love to read a good detective book. I’ve been reading Robert Galbraith, CJ Sansom and Delores Redondo just to name a few and was wondering if you could recommend a good thriller. Sorry to be so blunt but there are so many authors out there but I would really like to know one from your personal choice. Many thanks, Anthony
Jeez, put me on the spot, why doncha? 🙂
But if you enjoyed Galbraith, you might get a kick out of the similar-in-tone ODDS AGAINST, by the late, great Dick Francis. Francis’ empathetic handling of damaged detective Sid Halley still rings true and clear all these years later. If you like that one, Francis wrote a lot of books.
love the word on the street