Nick and Nora Charles the bantering, romantically involved detective duo has become a well-used trope in literature, stage, screen, and television ever since. The characters first appear in Dashiell Hammett's best-selling last novel "The Thin Man" (1934). Nick is an alcoholic former private detective who retired when he married Nora, a wealthy Nob Hill heiress. Hammett reportedly modeled Nora on his longtime partner Lillian Hellman, and the characters' boozy, flippant dialogue on their relationship. (The novel also mentions that Nick was once a Pinkerton detective, as was Hammett.) The novel is considered one of the seminal texts of the hard-boiled subgenre of mystery novels,
Palais Arnstein death of Fanny von Arnstein, her daughter Henriette von Pereira-Arnstein continued her mother's tradition as salonière. Palais Arnstein Palais Arnstein was a palace in Vienna, Austria. The building was constructed in 1794-96 by the merchant Franz Natorp. The Jewish noble Nathan Adam von Arnstein rented the palace, since Jews were not allowed to own property in the city. The palace was hit by bombs during World War II and burned. Nevertheless, the building remained standing. At first there were plans for renovation, however the palace was demolished in 1952 for real estate speculation, and a modern building was erected in