Dashiell Hammett

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nine months after someone stole a Maltese Falcon statue from a San Francisco landmark, the restaurant owner is touting a new bird made famous by Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel and Humphrey Bogart's 1941 film noir classic. John Konstin of John's Grill said the 150-pound, 17-inch statue made of lead and bronze will be bolted down, locked in a case and eyed constantly by security cameras. The predator looks more fierce and realistic than the 50-pound plaster replica it replaces.

Clark Andrews, one of the early directors of radio's famous "Big Town" who married one of the show's co-stars, Claire Trevor, is dead at age 76. He died Friday in Los Angeles but his death was not announced until Monday. In addition to "Big Town," Andrews also directed "The Fat Man," a 1945 radio show created by Dashiell Hammett, "Famous Jury Trials," "The Clock" and "Rogue's Gallery." Trevor was playing Lorelei Kilbourne, the society editor of the mythical Illustrated Press, opposite Edward G.

If anything, Metcalf is too easy on PBS. He does not mention record company infomercials being passed off as original programming, slicing off segments of programs to make more room for pledges, inserting voice-over announcements during the music at the end of an opera, or passing off as education the study of music videos of Madonna and Michael Jackson. TED KASTENBAUM Commerce Metcalf's cruel and funny take on PBS' quarterly "tin cup" appeals was on the mark. Still, KCET redeemed itself with the Lillian Hellman-Dashiell Hammett documentary.

What other critics said: Frank Rich, New York Times: The plodding show that has emerged from all this tumult is, a few bright spots notwithstanding, an almost instantly forgettable mediocrity. Clive Barnes, New York Post: What we have here is a bad idea turned sour, although there are one or two incidental sweetnesses along the way, littering its path like primroses. Jeremy Gerard, Variety: At every possible juncture "Nick & Nora" . . .

Tod Goldberg reviews "The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories" by Max Apple. Denise Hamilton reviews "Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer" by John Leake. Tim Rutten reviews "Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin" by Nicholas Ostler. The following reviews are scheduled: Fred Schruers reviews "The Star Machine" by Jeanine Basinger. Regina Marler reviews "A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson" by Frances Welch.

Jill Sumner, elementary school teacher: "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder (Berkley). "Gaarder presents the history of philosophy in an original way: with the story of a curious young girl. You don't have to be a philosophy lover to read this book. Told through her eyes, it's accessible to everyone." **** Judith Drury, bookseller: "Bruculinu, America" by Vincent Schiavelli (Houghton Mifflin). "This is a warm and wonderful memoir.