Inquiring minds and budding punsters want to know: Which movie/book titles are being tweaked in the titles of my Chet Gecko books? I’ve been asked that quite a few times over the years, and since I just received another query, I thought I’d set the record straight once and for all.
First, you should know that I wrote the first two books (The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse and The Mystery of Mr. Nice) before I figured out that I could base my book titles off film noir movies/books and have some fun with that. After my “d’oh!” moment, I set about coming up with play-on-words titles involving most of the best known film noir tales (plus a little Hitchcock, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond for spice). Here’s the list:
Farewell, My Lunchbag = Farewell, My Lovely (movie and Raymond Chandler book)
The Big Nap = The Big Sleep (movie and Raymond Chandler book)
The Hamster of the Baskervilles = The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle book and movie)
This Gum For Hire = This Gun For Hire (movie and Graham Greene book)
The Malted Falcon = The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett book and movie)
Trouble Is My Beeswax = Trouble Is My Business (movie and Raymond Chandler book)
Give My Regrets to Broadway = Give My Regards to Broadway (movie and George M. Cohan song)
Murder, My Tweet = Murder, My Sweet (movie)
The Possum Always Rings Twice = The Postman Always Rings Twice (movie and James M. Cain book)
Key Lardo = Key Largo (movie and Maxwell Anderson book)
Hiss Me Deadly = Kiss Me Deadly (movie and Mickey Spillane book)
From Russia With Lunch = From Russia With Love (movie and Ian Fleming book)
Dial M for Mongoose = Dial M for Murder (play and movie)
Thank you! My son and I were trying to figure out the titles.