Return of the Thin Man

HighBridge Audio, the answer to hard-boiled mystery lovers' dreams for more than a year with its outstanding "Black Mask Stories" series, now offers a double dose of Dash! This fun package sports Hammett's two detailed treatments for sequels to the film adaptation of his novel The Thin Man (TTM) featuring ace detective Nick Charles and his wife, Nora. After the Thin Man picks up directly at TTM's conclusion, while Another Thin Man is set roughly two years later and finds the couple with infant Nick Jr. While not fully fleshed-out novels, the dual treatments are significant to American letters as Hammett's last two pieces of long writing. There's additional scholarly merit in a lengthy introduction by top Hammett biographer Richard Layman and afterwords by the master's granddaughter Julie M. Rivett. A bonus is Hammett's brief description of a possible TTM sequel incorporating the lead characters from the original novel and film. Narrator Scott Brick and an ensemble cast perform both titles, with Peter Gamin as an overly droll Nick, Nicola Barber as Nora, and a bevy of others.