Just published: 
DASHIELL HAMMETT A Daughter Remembers By Josephine Hammett
Edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett
Carroll and Graf. 176 pp  

My fears that this could be an exercise in rose tinted nostalgia were not entirely dissuaded by Jo Hammett's eloquent preface: having compiled a charge sheet listing the temptations that biographers can succumb to, she continues "It is not a biography. It is what the title says: what I remember - impressions that are imperfect, imprecise, biased, maybe even poorly interpreted. It is not true. But it is as true as I can make it."

And she seems true to her word. She certainly isn't blind to her father's faults, but nor is she censorious - perhaps that is too much to expect from a loving daughter. So accounts of the drinking, the breakdown of family life, the difficult relationship with Lillian Hellman, and the relationships with other women all get aired with quiet judgment. And the strengths: the writing, the loyalty, the generosity, the loving father, and the patriot are related with restrained pride.

The book is especially good on the early years of Jose, Hammett's wife and the bleak photographs of the mining town of Anaconda, Montana viewed together with photographs of Hammett as part of a strike breaking team reminds us that maybe they shared some common experiences before they met.

We also get an insight into Hammett's relationship with the family he deserted. Jo Hammett viewed her father as an exotic outsider who came to visit occasionally, loaded with gifts and always willing to take his children out for 'treats'. Desertion is perhaps the wrong word, as he seems to have been a frequent visitor to the family home in Los Angeles and the children made occasional trips to New York to see him.

Jo Hammett is also surprisingly generous to Lillian Hellman. She conveys a mixture of admiration for Hellman's loyalty and kindness to her father and annoyance at her maneuverings, particularly regarding the estate. In his introduction Hammett biographer Richard Layman, describes the kind of obstructions Hellman would create to obstruct the early biographies (and as the first biographer he probably suffered the most so it is very generous of him to acknowledge that "the authorised biographer [Diane Johnson] had a mind of her own".) These days, partly through Hellman's manipulation, it is impossible to separate Hammett's story from that of Hellman's, which is a pity as somehow his achievements as a writer tend to get overlooked. Nevertheless Hellman showed enormous devotion to a difficult man and in doing so earned the respect of his daughter.

Despite the author's claim this short memoir is in fact constructed like a biography. Jo Hammett adds a narrative to the family photo album, starting with Hammett's parents and the farm in Maryland, and finishing with Hammett sitting frail and uneasily with his daughter and grandchildren on the steps of Lillian Hellman's Long Island home. It is a well thought out package - where Jo Hammett has something to say that doesn't fit neatly into the narrative; these comments are included in occasional panels alongside the main text.

The book is worth the price for the photographs alone that must more than double the number that have been published before. It includes some images of Hammett as a Pinkerton agent, and some from the period of the struggling writer in San Francisco. Also included are drawings that Hammett sent to his children, publishing notices, newspaper cuttings and a piece of advertising copy that Hammett had written for Samuel's Jewelers whilst he was honing his writing skills in San Francisco. As the number of works on Hammett grows - this book falls into a crowded market but it has an indisputable charm and honesty that few of its competitors can match. 

John Traynor