11 AUGUST 1984, Page 18

Thin man

Sir: Presumably Paul Johnson has been misled by Hollywood when, in his correc- tive article on Lillian Hellman (The press, 14 July), he refers to the ' "Thin Man" stories'. In spite of there being several

'Thin Man' films, Hammett wrote only one 'Thin Man' story, i.e. the novel The Thin Man, where the title refers not to the detective, Nick Charles, whose physique is never described, but to the eccentric inven- tor, Clyde Wynant, whose murderer he tracks down.

Marc Attwood-Wood

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