[WT Sharpe]

Just finished reading The Thin Man, written by Dashiell Hammett in 1934. Although Hammett was to live another 26 years, he never wrote another novel.

The strength of The Thin Man lay in its well-defined and interesting characters, and in the era in which the action was set. Nick Charles is a former detective who stored his gumshoes in the closet after marrying a strong, interesting, and wealthy woman named Nora. Both of these rather flirtatious and fun-loving characters seem to have devoted their current life to partying and flouting the prohibition laws from the moment they arise until their last breath before bed. The last thing Nick wants is to involve himself in solving a homicide, but that's just what the cards have in store for him as, against his will, he finds himself drawn into solving the murder of Julia Wolf, a conniving young lady who been found shot multiple times. All evidence seems to point to the thin man in whose employ she was at the time of her death, Clyde Wynant; an eccentric inventor generally regarded as a bit of a whacko. Along the way he has repeated run-ins with Wynant's ex-wife and daughter (both of whom desire him sexually), his son (a strange bird with very bizarre reading habits), and a host of criminals and over-zealous cops.

One thing is clear: none of the families mentioned in this story were the role models for the Anderson family on Father Knows Best.