For most people, The Maltese Falcon is the first name that enters their mind when you talk about Hammett. But to me, Red Harvest with the Continental Op is the best Hammett ever.

Old gang-town story. Vivid descriptions. Incredibly complicated plot. Action. Drama. Spine chilling twists. Characters. The Language.. oh.. what language. Every phrase designed to excite and to be enjoyed. This book, in a genre that traditional English Depts do not consider as literature, is one of the literary classics of all time.

Good book. The Continental Op is called to Personville - generally known as Poisonville - by a client named Donald Willsson, a newspaperman who has made it his personal crusade to clean up the town of its rampant corruption - from the bootleggers to the chief of police. Willsson is murdered, and his father - Old Elihu - pays the Op $10,000 to find his son's murderer and to clean up the town. (Elihu used to own the town, but during an IWW strike he had to call in several toughs to break it: problem is they never left, and now he can no longer control them.) The Op must then walk a thin line, trying to play the gangsters and crooks off on one another, and try to stay alive as the dead pile up.

Hammett has a swift, taunt style, and even though the novel is written in the first-person, characterization is revealed mostly though dialogue and actions, and not through introspection. This is my first Hammett novel, and I really enjoyed it. I'll be sure to read more.

This was the first novel featuring Hammett's short story character, The Continental Op, and it's well worth reading. The Op is sent from his home in San Francisco to Personville, Montana on the request of a client. The fact that Personville is pronounced posionville by its residents will tell you the kind of town he enters. The violence is so bad that the Op never actually sees his client alive, but he sticks around to avenge his death. The deep plot is as convoluted as any detective novel, but the basic plot of a man playing two sides against each other proved to be important in the history of film even more so than literature.

The Op was the original Man With No Name. Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western borrows both the stranger concept and the plot from Red Harvest. Though the credit is usually given to Akira Kurosawa for his film Yojimbo, both films actually borrow their essence from Hammett.

It's not necessary to have seen either film to enjoy this story. Overshadowed by the classic Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest deserves more ink than it gets. It's here with Hammett that the noir detective novel was born. The romantic notion of a poor detective who would rather live up to his own standards of justice than take a big payoff is a very American outlook. I can only figure that such a character comes from the many assignments that Hammett got working for the Pinkerton detective agency and the many times that Hammett wasn't allowed to do the right thing. Our detective is so virtuous under the standards of his own ethics that you admire him even when he is creating a bloodbath.

The most surprising thing is how well the whole book flows and quickly I read it. Hammett has a great way of leaving each chapter with enough questions that you want to immediately read the next one. He'll leave you with the conclusion of a boxing match and with a fighter that falls over with a knife in his back. How can you go to sleep on a chapter like that?

Any fan of detective novels and film noir should do themselves the justice of reading all the Hammett they can get. Red Harvest is a good start to that goal.

These stories were written in the 1920s. If you liked his short stories and novels, you will want to read this book. "Corkscrew" is a short version of "Red Harvest" - get one gang to attack another in order to eliminate both and benefit a third group. "Dead Yellow Women" is about a scheme to provide cover for smuggling. Some things never change! "Tulip" was written in the 1950s, is partly autobiographical, and different from the other stories; not as good, in my opinion. The monetary figures from 80 years ago are way out of date!

Some of these stories appear to be similar to the turmoil in early 16th Century Italy. Could a Cesare Borgia have planned the "The Big Knockover"? In "$106,000 Blood Money" the Continental Op arranges the death of a traitorous detective, and then the bounty hunter who would claim this reward (leading to a nice bonus later?).

Why have detective stories gone out of fashion after the 1950s? Could a form of censorship be responsible for this (to hide the actions of these secret agents of the rich and powerful)? Are the "James Bond" stories an updated version of the private detective stories? Or have none-fiction writings become more popular since then ("The Invisible Government")?

There are some great stories here. Let's discuss some of them in a minute. First, however . . .

During most of the 1920s and early 1930s, Dashiell Hammett was a compulsive writer and storyteller, possibly due to a personal need to make sense of his world and experiences. Later, he lost that compulsion. Following a brief prison term in the early 1950s (for his refusal to take part in the McCarthy-era witchhunts), he began to rediscover that earlier compulsion. Hence, the fragment of "Tulip," which he apparently intended as an semi-autobiographical novel. One wishes he could have lived long enough to complete more of it, at least.

Now to the meat of this short-story collection from his earlier days.

Hammett's most enduring character, the anonymous first-person narrating Continental Op, is the protagonist throughout. The stories vary widely, from the old-west (but not that old at the time of its writing) atmosphere of "Corkscrew" -- which would later serve as theme material for the novel "Red Harvest" -- to the comedy of "The Gatewood Caper"; there's the sinister undertones, interspersed with more comedic touches and a superb punchline at the end, of "Dead Yellow Women" as well as the total 'shaggy dog story' feel of "The Gutting of Couffignal" (in which everything apparently is intended to lead up to yet another punchline).

And then there's the title story itself, "The Big Knockover," perhaps the pre-eminent 'caper story' of all time: a carefully planned and executed bank robbery which falls awry in a trail of double-cross and deduction, yet which leaves its protagonist at the end to wryly remark (perhaps echoing Hammett's sentiments?): "What a life!"

Note: Subsequent editions of this collection sometimes include "$106,000 Blood Money," which Hammett ill-advisedly wrote as a sequel to "The Big Knockover." Good as this second tale may be, I believe it could have been written just as easily -- and to better effect -- as an independent story. (There is some evidence that Hammett at one point thought of combining the two as a novel.) I much prefer to leave "Knockover" on its own and let it end there, without the more-than-slightly unsatisfactory resolution of "$106,000 Blood Money."

Each story in this collection shines on its own and reveals facets of Hammett's innate genius.

Oh, yeah: There's also a reminiscince by playwright Lillian Hellman, which may or may not have any bearing upon the actual Dashiell Hammett. Decide for yourself.

Dashiell Hammett's _The Big Knockover_ is a wonderful collection of stories by the master of the crime novel himself. The introduction by Lillian Hellman gives the reader excellent insight into her relationship with Hammett, as well as a glimpse of the author. For Hammett fans, the book is nearly worth the price for Hellman's introduction alone.

This collection is better than his Maltese Falcon, all the Sam Spade, and the Thin Man stories. Among Hammett's writings, the only novel to equal this collection, in my mind, is _Red Harvest_.

Stories in this book range from short to near-novella length. Topics range from the very typical Hammett plot (young woman is missing, wealthy dad pays for her return)of "The Gatewood Caper" to the offbeat noir-Western "Corkscrew" to the looting of an entire island ("The Looting of Couffignal").

The one "straight" story in the bunch, not a crime story at all, is "Tulip," published as a fragment. As it is, it doesn't pull much weight. To call the plot meandering would be generous.

The title story is a classic. A big bank-robbery caper starts looking bizarre when, days later, roomsful of America's highest profile crooks start turning up dead.

One bad story doesn't ruin the whole bunch. If you're a fan of Hammett's other books, give _The Big Knockover_ a chance.

ken32

This time around, the main character is not a detective, but a gambler with political friends & enemies, one friend in particular. While there is a dead body early in the story, this protagonist doesn't seem all that interested in who the murderer is until the pivotal scene when he gets severely beaten for not turning on his former friend who he's temporarily on the outs with.

I've noticed this plot gimmick more than once in Hammett. The rascally characters bring the protagonist's wrath upon them by needlessly attacking him. That happened in one of the shorter Continental Op stories and then again in Red Harvest and now in this one. One could put The Maltese Falcon in that class also.

Personally, I had trouble liking the characters until that pivotal scene, and then only did I get involved with them. So I do feel that this had the weakest opening of Hammett's major works. However, once one gets through the first part, it becomes as riveting as any of Hammett's.

So I do very much recommend this one along with Hammett's other books.

This is not only one of Hammett's best books, but the obvious inspiration for the Coen Brothers' film "Miller's Crossing." Its cynical, nasty view of corrupt city politics is refreshingly contemporary, and the book stands as one of the best of the 20s/30s all by itself, even today-- but film fans will get an extra kick out of the Coen's wholesale appropriation of language and characters as well. After "Red Harvest," this is my favorite Hammett. Well worth reading every few years.

I was bowled over by this one. Oddly laconic with some rather awkward turns of phrase (he did it "difficultly"?!!), the writing, nevertheless, is nearly airtight and so sharply laid down that it carries and sets the mood beautifully in this strange tale of a political boss and his gambler buddy who are bent on winning their particular games of life. Paul Madvig, the boss, wants to win the upcoming elections and ensure continuation of his candidates in office while Ned Beaumont, the lone-wolf gambler, wants to get back on a winning streak, collect on a bad debt and protect his apparently dense friend Madvig who has stumbled into a situation. Madvig is in love with a senator's daughter and keen to win her hand and so has allowed his usual good judgement to become clouded. In shifting his political support to the senator, he has lost touch with his own less-than-respectable base, allowing a local gangster to muscle in on his territory. Intent on pushing the gangster back, he makes a dumb play and is soon sucked into a problem surrounding the unsolved murder of the senator's son. Who did it and why are the questions that lie at the core of Madvig's problems and only Beaumont is clever enough, and cares enough, to get to the bottom of it. Along the way Beaumont takes a bloody beating, participates in a murder and loses what he cares most for in all the world. Although the tale takes a while to get revved up and some of the transitions are so abrupt as to be jarring, this was not only a great "detective" story but one with real resonance that goes well beyond the genre in which it has been cast. I recently read Chandler's The Big Sleep and thought very highly of it, giving it five amazon stars. Well, this one's even better. -- SWM

My first Dashiell Hammett book and after reading it I decided I'm hooked on his writing. The plot is tight no doubt, but the ending especially left me thoroughly impressed at the skillful crafting of the story. That aside, the playful banter between Nick and Nora Charles amused, and surely the dry wit of Nick will elicit a chuckle. Add to the whole mix a bunch of crazy characters like the Wynant family who can't seem to talk straight, and you get an absorbing whodunnit with a generous dose of humour.

Forget those movies. They took a grimly funny novel about a group of predatory monsters and turned it into a series of light comedies. As splendid as William Powell and Myrna Loy are, they cannot hold a candle to the Nick and Nora portrayed in this novel.

Hammett did not write a novel about a sophisticated couple who genteelly solve a murder while pouring cocktails and trading quips. He wrote a dark novel about an ex-detective who has married a wildly wealthy woman, and wants to spend the rest of his life managing her money. He is only faintly connected to the murders, having known the victim and his family briefly several years before, and wants nothing to do with the whole business. He is continually dragged in, however, and very nearly becomes a victim himself. Even a cursory reading of the novel should demonstrate that Hammett was up to much more than a series of one-liners with detective interruptions. Why else would Hammett, one of the most economical of authors, bring the novel to a halt to include a case history of Alfred Packer, the only American convicted of the crime of cannibalism?

There is much more here than Hollywood, or anyone else that I know of, has yet realized.

The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett's high-society detective novel, is most definitely NOT like the movies based on the book. While the movies are about a gay, carefree couple who solve crimes and do a lot of social drinking, the book is more about a couple in a destructive relationship. Nick only married Nora for her money, and they both know it. He's also a womanizer and an alcoholic (as is Nora). Nora is a younger woman who seems enchanted by Nick's sinful ways, and allows him to use her as he feels free to. The whodunit mystery, although discussed very much in the book, is not the most interesting part of the novel, nor did Hammett intend it to be. Read it for the satirical potrayal of bad relationships. Not just Nick and Nora's, but the dysfunctional (although dysfunctional may be an understatement) family they help to solve the murder.

The Thin Man is also notable for the use of a certain word to describe male arousal. Hammett was attempting to pave the way for other authors to discuss sexuality more openly. Unfortunately, it didn't quite catch on.

Love may be a many splendored thing, but it sure as heck ruined Dashiell Hammett. This story originally appeared in three installments in Liberty magazine in April, 1933. He had met Lillian Hellman two years earlier, with whom he was to share a rather troubled but now mythical romance (and an unrepentant and slavish enthusiasm for Joseph Stalin) for the rest of his life. The next year he published his final novel, The Thin Man, and then fell silent with a writer's block that ranks second only to that of Joseph Mitchell in legend.

Woman in the Dark is certainly not a novel; at best it's a novella and even then it feels more like the outline for a longer work. The woman of the title is Luise Fischer, the Swiss-born kept woman of a wealthy thug named Kane Robson. Having walked out on him one evening, she twists her ankle and stops for help at cottage occupied by Brazil, a phlegmatic ex-con, who once killed a man in a barroom brawl. When Robson shows up with a henchmen to demand that Luise come back to him, Brazil punches the other man who bangs his head, perhaps fatally, on the fireplace mantle. Now both Brazil and Luise have a reason to take it on the lam :

He emptied his glass and went to the front door, where he made a pretense of looking out at the night.

As he turned from the door he caught her expression, though she hastily put the frown off her face. His smile, voice were mockingly apologetic : 'I can't help it. They had me away for a while--in prison, I mean--and it did that to me. I've got to keep making sure I'm not locked in.' His smile became more twisted. 'There's a name for it--claustrophobia--and that doesn't make it any better.'

'I am sorry,' she said. 'Was it--very long ago?'

'Plenty long ago when I went in,' he said dryly, 'but only a few weeks ago that I got out. That's what I came up here for--to try to get myself straightened out, see how I stood, what I wanted to do.'

'And?' she said softly.

'And what? Have I found out where I stand, what I want to do? I don't know.' He was standing in front of her, hands in pockets, glowering down at her. 'I suppose I've just been waiting for something to turn up, something I could take as a sign which way I was to go. Well, what turned up was you. That's good enough. I'll go along with you.'

So much for the set up, in the two sections that follow, the police track them down and Brazil is shot, but the ending suggests that everything may work out for the two who have by now fallen in love.

It's tempting to read the story autobiographically. Two interesting and seemingly dynamic characters meet up and embark on an exciting though fairly implausible love affair, but then their story just kind of tails off into ambiguous and unconvincing anticlimax. Despite periodic flashes of Hammett's trademark hardboiled style, the book is generally disappointing. The conclusion of the story in particular is a far cry from the great final scene of The Maltese Falcon. Ultimately, the book is interesting chiefly as an indicator of where Hammett was headed just before he stopped writing, but if it's an accurate indication, we didn't miss much.

GRADE : C

Hammett's style is good enough that you do care about the two main characters. But something's missing. It is almost as if he was lacking interest in his own story. Maybe not.

Whatever the case, it's worth reading just because it's Hammett. It tells the story of a guy who got a bad rap the first time around, and just a few weeks after getting out of jail, he finds himself in danger of going back. There's a feeling of hopelessness here and the ending seems a bit ambiguous.

It's a good crime adventure short, but far from the best Hammett. It's still worth having in your collection.

This short novel was published originally in Liberty Magazine in three parts, and it is now in three chapters--each one reaching a climax that makes the reader quickly turn the page to finish the book at one reading. We have Hammett's hard-boiled protagonist--not a detective--but an attractive, very masculine ex-con named Brazil, and a world-weary, beautiful Swiss woman fleeing from the decadent world she now despises. The tension in the story derives both from the relationship between the two main characters and from their efforts to flee the police and the woman's pursuers. As always, Hammett's prose is marvellous, sharp, pointed, and even lyrical. This is the last piece of fiction he wrote before The Thin Man, and if you love Hammett, you must read this well-plotted and thrilling tale.

Jo Hammett's book about her father, fabled tough-guy writer Dashiell Hammett, includes many family photos and documents never before seen by Hammett enthusiasts. The book, printed on glossy paper, is visually appealing. Jo Hammett's description of her childhood years, when her father's presence was a treat and time spent with him seemed magical, must be weighed against her growing realization that her parents were hopelessly mismatched, that her father was an intensely private man who shared his life with no one, not even his long-time mistress, Lillian Hellman.

Her father found his niche in American publishing, and is beloved by many readers devoted to his hard-boiled style. His family life, or the lack of it, may take some of the sheen from his image. A pervasive sadness invades this book.

I bought this book for its snappy cover and intro on Hammett's fascinating life. But the stories themselves are mostly a let-down. Hammett really hit his stride with the novels, and it's hard to tell from these early magazine pieces how good a writer he'd become. Still, the violence, corruption and sexy seediness that make his other work so much fun are here in embryo. If you're already a Hammett fan, reading these stories is like watching an all-star's warm up swings before he nails a home run. If not, let "The Maltese Falcon" or "Red Harvest" knock your socks off before you make the trip to Nightmare Town.

As a long-time fan of 'classic' noir/detective fiction (Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald, Thompson) and it's stylistic roots in the pulps, I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with this volume. There's alot here in terms of sheer number of stories, but aside from the very worthwhile Sam Spade shorts (which bump it to 3 stars), it's very uneven in quality. Your taste buds will like the delicious descriptive and atmospheric elements (particularly for hard-core Chandler fans like me...his inspirations via Hammett are in good supply) but the story construction leaves much to desire. The better part of the book is made up of hastily conceived vignettes that will remind you just as to why most of 'pulp' writing was considered disposable.

These stories were printed in the 1920s by "Black Mask" magazine, one of the monthly pulp magazines that entertained America before radio and television. Some of the stories were repeated in later works ("Who Killed Bob Teal") and never reprinted in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's lifetime. The stories are still entertaining today, and also provide a glance at a life that few of us know.

SDH worked as a Pinkerton detective for years, seeking fun, travel, adventure. The stories reflect his life as a private detective would see it: a world of crime and corruption. Would this work damage an operative expecially when de didn't have a normal family and home life? Does this reoccur today?

All of Hammett's other novels (The Glass Key, Red Harvest, The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon) are five-star reads; his short stories (collected in The Big Knockover and The Continental Op, among other volumes) are likewise excellent. The Dain Curse, while worth reading after these others, is nowhere near as good. The plotting is byzantine (made to be serialized in three chunks, it reads like three short stories/novellas that are tied together at the end) and the characterizations are thin. Do yourself a favor and read the other novels and the short stories before opening The Dain Curse.

"The Dain Curse" is a great read ; the dialogue is crisp and the story zings along at a great pace. The main problem with the book is the disjointed storyline ; the plot is subdivided into three sections, each with a self-contained storyline, linked up by the supposed curse around the leading female character, Gabrielle Leggett. The denoument of the book feels contrived ; I felt that Hammett had probably thought up the three separate plots and had (not completely successfully) attempted to link them together. However, this is a minor quibble ; the book is a great read and I would recommend it to all fans of detective fiction, although this may be a disappointment to those who have previously read "Red Harvest" or "The Maltese Falcon".

When you think of Hammett, you probably think only of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. The (great) movies probably play a role in that. But don't overlook The Dain Curse. It's fine reading for any crime novel fan.

And a note to those whose reviews described the plot as choppy: this novel was originally published in three separate parts in one of the pulp magazines (anyone know which one? I don't recall) so all three parts were written to be part of a bigger story, yet be complete and self-contained in their own way.

First they claim to have all of Raymond Chandler's stories in one volume. They don't, four are missing, and just happen to be the ones most sought after by true fans. Not to mention the eight they admit to omitting. They're excuse? Considerations for length and theme, it's true that three of the missing four are not mysteries, and that is what makes them unique. But why did they leave out "The Pencil"? The length problem could have been solved by omitting the section of Chandler's letters, there are whole volumes dedicated to those. And they could have cut some of the essays that are also included in other volumes, and replaced them with other essays that are rotting away in issues of the Atlantic Monthly. And they could have omitted the "Double Indemnity script and repalced it with "The Blue Dahlia" which is out of print.
That is how they messed up their "definative"' collection of Chandler and they seem to have made worse editing choices with their collection of Hammmett's stories. The way it stands now, if you want every story Hammett wrote you must buy this book. It includes five stories that appear to be collected here for the first time. But, then you'll have to buy "Nightmare Town" and the "Big Knockover". Why did LOA do it this way? Why not omit the four stories already available in "Nightmare Town" amd replace them with the three that are missing from "The Big Knockover"? That way if you bought "Nightmare Town" you'd have the twelve remaining stories and you're collection is complete. If they were strapped for space they could omit the 58 page typescript for "'The Thin Man".

I debated whether this should be 3 stars or 4, and decided on 4 because of the creative plots and characters. Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) dropped out of school at the age of 15, working at a variety of jobs before joining the Pinkerton Dectective Agency at the age of 21, working there before and after his service in the US Army during World War I. He came down with TB in the Army, and continuing illnesses made it difficult for him to work, so he became a writer. He is best known for the "Maltese Falcon" and other novels. He died penniless, largely due to judgements by the IRS for unpaid income taxes.

It is apparent from some of the other reviews that reviewers are unfamiliar with the process of publishing a collection. There are copyrights involved, and it is necessary to obtain permission from the copyright holders, often a different publisher (which may or may not be forthcoming). There are also fees payable to copyright holders, and demands sometimes make it impractical to include material (I am speaking from personal experience).

This collection contains 24 shorter stories originally published between 1923 and 1934, mainly in "Black Mask," with one each from "Argosy," "Mystery Stories," "Liberty," and "Colliers." The 20 stories from "Black Mask" feature the Continental Op, a detective from the Continental Detective Agency who is described as fat but never identified by name - call him "the Fat Man" for purposes of reference. The stories are in narrative form, as told by the main character. There is also an early typescript of "The Thin Man," various notes by the author, and biographical material on his life.

Rather than being literary masterpieces, these stories were written as entertainment for the masses. They are written in the somewhat macho style of that time period, with dead bodies left about the landscape. The Fat Man is not quite Fearless Fosdick, but he survives more than a normal amount of blows, knife wounds, and near misses from bullets. The stories will appeal to those readers who like live action. They may have less appeal to readers looking for high tech (computers, cell phones, etc.). There are interesting references to the time period with people driving Locomobiles, etc., and directing someone to "keep the steam up." A lot of the action is in San Francisco in the 1920's. This was an era before Miranda Rights, etc., when police were more inclined to kick in a door and sometimes slap people aside the head.

There are interesting characters sprinkled through the stories. One man has the ultimate con game, hiring himself out as a hit man and collecting the advance with no intention of performing the hit. What can his clients do, complain to the police? His idea of a money tree is someone with lots of enemies.

Like most collections, there is some variation in quality. The volume is good value for the money with 900 pages of stories. While well bound, the volume is printed on somewhat thin paper which could be easily damaged.

Dashiell Hammett was the celebrated author and experienced detective who has been acclaimed as the father of the American hardboiled crime novel. This anthology of his work proves him to be a master of short stories as well. His tales, originally written for pulp magazines such as Black Mask in the 1920's and 1930's, drew upon the realities of American streets and American speech to create adventures felt and sounded truly real. This comprehensive collection from the original texts as they appeared in the pulps is free of the cuts and revisions imposed by later editors. In addition to 24 stories, Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories And Other Writings also contains essays and an early version of Hammett's novel "The Thin Man." Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories And Other Writings is an undeniable "must" for any mystery buff!

Una mujer en la oscuridad fue escrita a los dos años de que Dashiell Hammett conociera a Lillian Hellman. Es, con toda seguridad, la más sentimental de las novelas de Hammett. Esta obra fue publicada en la revista Liberty, y permaneció perdida durante años. En el texto se describen de forma magistral los personajes de Brazil y Luise Fischer y, a pesar de su corta extensión, desprende el aroma del mejor Hammett