Bibliograph

Five complete novels, Dashiell Hammett

Type

Label

Five complete novels, Dashiell Hammett

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Five complete novels

Oclc number

7007261

Responsibility statement

Dashiell Hammett

Summary

Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929) epitomizes the violence and momentum of his Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op, in a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town. In The Dain Curse (1929) the Op returns in a more melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930) and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success, a tightly constructed quest story shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny. The Glass Key (1931) is a further exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous. His last novel was The Thin Man (1934), a ruefully comic tale paying homage to the traditional mystery form and featuring Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies

Table Of Contents

Red harvest.--The Dain curse.--The Maltese falcon.--The glass key.--The thin man

Classification