On this day in 1936, the two great crime noir novelists of the early 20th century meet at a dinner in Los Angeles. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett were introduced to each other at a dinner for Black Mask contributors.

Black Mask was one of the great pulp crime magazines that existed from 1920 until 1951. Writers for the magazine include Hammett,  Chandler, John D. MacDonald and my all-time favourite Earle Stanley Gardner. I wonder at that 1936 dinner who was the chatty one?

There’s an interesting article about Chandler and Hammett’s view on the British crime fiction writers here via Literena with the title: Did Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett hate Agatha Christie?