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Portrait image of Dashiell Hammett Photo: AP / TT

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Hammett, Dashiell

American detective writer, born in St. Mary's County in Maryland. He grew up in Baltimore where his family moved when he was seven years old. Dashiell Hammett dropped out of school when thirteen and got on with odd jobs before ending up a private detective at Pinkertons. He worked as a detective primarily in San Francisco and then used his experiences in his novels. During the First World War,...

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Literary figures

Roderick Alleyn

Gender: Male

His titled parents wanted him to become a diplomat; instead Roderick Alleyn chose to become a police officer and work for Scotland Yard. In more than 30 novels by Ngaio Marsh, he solves cases in a highly cultivated manner, often side-by-side with his wife, portrait-painter Agatha Troy. He is tall, dark and ‘stylish’ and is just as much at home in society as with the inhabitants of small country to...

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