Riordan's Desk

As part of the Pleasanton Library's celebration of the National Endowment of the Arts Big Read program, I had the opportunity to interview Hammett expert--and personal hero--Joe Gores about The Maltese Falcon.


Click here to listen to the second MP3 file (~10 MB) from the interview. I apologize again for the poor quality of the recording, but I think the topics Joe covers make it all worthwhile:

• Definition of "gunsel"
• Definition of "gooseberry lay"
• The Flitcraft story and it's purpose in the novel
• Where the name Flitcraft comes from
• Why Bridget O'Shaughnessy talks fast
• How Gores came to write the novel Hammett
• The research Gores did on Maltese Falcon locations

Next up, what Lillian Hellman thought of the novel Hammett and Francis Ford Coppola's plan to make a movie out of it.