Bookstore for mystery

Seventy-five years ago, detective Sam Spade haunted the mean streets of San Francisco, scouring foggy back alleys and smoky barrooms for clues and crooks, and often discovering something darker about himself in the process. For the past 30 years, however, he's been hanging around a cozy, two-room turn-of-the-century joint in Noe Valley called the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore. Besides Dashiell Hammett's famous character, the store carries titles by Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, and other snoop dogs. It stocks a healthy selection of female mystery authors, and there are even volumes of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys for Chiclet-sized gumshoes. 4175 24th St., S.F., (415) 282-7444, www.sfmysterybooks.com.