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,
Clyde Arbuckle died in 1998. Clyde Arbuckle Clyde Arbuckle (1903–1998) was an American historian of, and lifelong resident of, San Jose, California. He is the author of "Clyde Arbuckle's History of San José". This 500 page book has been extensively referenced by historians. Arbuckle was the son of W. J. Arbuckle, and the brother of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, a silent film star. As a young man, Arbuckle played the banjo. Arbuckle was also a road bicycle racer with the Garden City Wheelmen, San Jose residents have named a public school in his memory, and a referee at the Burbank Velodrome. In 1922