Author Hammett's Book
Reviews
Red Harvest
An unnamed operative of the Continental Detective Agency arrives in rural Personville at the behest of a local newspaper publisher, whose murder prompts the Op to spark a war between the gangs that have taken over the town. Donald Willsson's death left the Op in the hands of his son, Elihu Willsson. Elihu offers him $10,000 to clean up the town of all its gangsters.
The Op weasels his way into the good graces of each of the gang leaders individually, ...
The Dain Curse
The Continental-op is unconvinced about the nature of a reported diamond theft from the home of Edgar Leggett, quickly concluding, after finding a discarded stone in the Leggetts' yard, that the theft was an inside job. Matters rapidly escalate with many deaths ensuing, and the Legetts' enigmatic daughter, Gabrielle, is the prime suspect. ...
The Maltese Falcon
A Miss Wonderly shows up at the office of San Francisco private investigator Sam Spade. Her story is that she's looking for her missing 17-year-old sister, who ran off with an older man. Spade, who has been having an affair with the wife of his partner Miles Archer, sends Miles off to shadow the suspect, but Miles is shot dead during the night.
Sam gets Miss Wonderly to confess her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy and that she's on the trail of the M...
The Thin Man
Nick Charles is happily retired from the private detective game, but when the police pressure him into helping look into a recent murder, his socialite wife Nora wants in on the investigation. What happened is that wealthy Clyde Wynant is missing, and his daughter Dorothy wants Nick to help find him. Nick demurs until Nora urges him to help her out. Nora wants to see Nick in action and be part of a real-life investigation. It'd be more exciting than thei...
