Lillian Hellman, the legendary American playwright, was romantically involved with Dashiell Hammett for thirty years, though they never married. Hammett, a hard-drinking former detective, was best known for the classic detective novels, The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon. Both writers were politically active, complex personalities.

Though there’s no doubt about the trajectory of their relationship, Hellman’s memories of how things were, like many of her other memoirs, have always been taken with a grain of salt. Read More→