The Maltese Sandwich

The tragedy of the sandwich shop on the next corner closing is that, in addition to having the best coffee in the neighborhood, all their sandwiches had been named after characters in The Maltese Falcon. (The building is home to Sam Spade's apartment and is where Dashiell Hammett wrote TMF.)

I wish I could stop by... my biggest break as a writer to date features collectors' copies of TMF and started its life as "Dashiell Hammett Picked Up A Crayon" because some site I tried to write for and never got in took a firm stand on either fanfiction or reprints by saying "Not ever. Even if you are the best writer since Dashiell Hammett picked up a crayon," and I wanted their attention, which I never got. It finished up in Ellery Queen as "Shelf-cocked" and I've had a soft spot for Dash ever since, even though writing-wise, I still prefer Raymond Chandler.