Dashiell Hammett

A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett's coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted generations of readers,

Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

When the last honest citizen of "Poisonville" was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty—even if that meant taking on an entire town. The Op was in Personville, derogatory nickname aside, as the result of a letter to the Continental Detective Agency in San Francisco from Donald Willsson, publisher of the local paper, asking for an agent to visit. No other information. As soon as the OP arrives, the body count begins and it starts with his client! 'Red Harvest' is more than a superb crime novel; it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in America and one of the greats of 20th century literature.Librarian's note #1: this entry relates to the novel 'Red Harvest.' Collections, and other Hammett stories can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.Librarian's note #2: the two serialized novels are: 1. The Cleansing of Poisonville (which later became Red Harvest), and 2. The Dain Curse.Librarian's note #3: there are a total of 28 Continental Op short stories plus one incomplete; they can be found by searching GR for: 'a Continental Op Short Story.' They are: 1. Arson Plus, 2. Crooked Souls, 3. Slippery Fingers, 4. It, 5. Bodies Piled Up, 6. The Tenth Clew, 7. Night Shots, 8. Zigzags of Treachery, 9. One Hour, 10. The House on Turk Street, 11. The Girl with the Silver Eyes, 12. Women, Politics & Murder, 13. The Golden Horseshoe, 14. Who Killed Bob Teal? 15. Mike or Alec or Rufus, 16. The Whosis Kid, 17. The Scorched Face, 18. Corkscrew, 19. Dead Yellow Women, 20. The Gutting of Couffignal, 21. Creeping Siamese, 22. The Big Knock-Over, 23. $106,000 Blood Money, 24. The Main Death, 25. This King Business, 26. Fly Paper, 27. The Farewell Murder, 28. Death and Company and, 29. Three Dimes (unfinished).

Ned Beaumont is a gambler and a professional troubleshooter for his friend Paul Madvig, a cheerfully corrupt political power broker who aspires to greater things. Madvig has his eyes set on none other than the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. When the senator's son turns up dead, Madvig becomes the prime suspect. But if he is innocent, then which of his dozens of enemies is doing an awfully good job of framing him?Dashiell Hammett's tour de force of crime fiction combines a bulletproof plot, authentically corrupt characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness.

Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett is young and wealthy, with a penchant for morphine and religious cults. She also has an unfortunate effect on the people around her. They die - violently.Is she the victim of a family curse? She believes so and has been reminded of the curse many times. The short, squat, utterly unsentimental Continental Op, the best private detective around, has his doubts and finds himself confronting something infinitely more dangerous.It's the Continental Op's most bizarre case.Librarian's note #1: this entry relates to the novel 'The Dain Curse.' Collections, and other stories by Hammett can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.Librarian's note #2: the two serialized novels are: 1. The Cleansing of Poisonville (which later became Red Harvest), and 2. The Dain Curse.Librarian's note #3: there are a total of 28 Continental Op short stories plus one incomplete; they can be found by searching GR for: 'a Continental Op Short Story.' They are: 1. Arson Plus, 2. Crooked Souls, 3. Slippery Fingers, 4. It, 5. Bodies Piled Up, 6. The Tenth Clew, 7. Night Shots, 8. Zigzags of Treachery, 9. One Hour, 10. The House on Turk Street, 11. The Girl with the Silver Eyes, 12. Women, Politics & Murder, 13. The Golden Horseshoe, 14. Who Killed Bob Teal? 15. Mike or Alec or Rufus, 16. The Whosis Kid, 17. The Scorched Face, 18. Corkscrew, 19. Dead Yellow Women, 20. The Gutting of Couffignal, 21. Creeping Siamese, 22. The Big Knock-Over, 23. $106,000 Blood Money, 24. The Main Death, 25. This King Business, 26. Fly Paper, 27. The Farewell Murder, 28. Death and Company and, 29. Three Dimes (unfinished).

Dashiell Hammett is the true inventor of modern detective fiction and the creator of the private eye, the isolated hero in a world where treachery is the norm. The Continental Op was his great first contribution to the genre and these seven stories, which first appeared in the magazine Black Mask, are the best examples of Hammett's early writing, in which his formidable literary and moral imagination is already operating at full strength. The Continental Op is the dispassionate fat man working for the Continental Detective Agency, modelled on the Pinkerton Agency, whose only interest is in doing his job in a world of violence, passion, desperate action and great excitement.The tenth clew.--The golden horseshoe.--The house in Turk Street.--The girl with the silver eyes.--The whosis kid.--The main death.--The farewell murder.

Hammett's continental op - tough, tired, intelligent, a snap-brimmed Sir Galahad with a Browning - was the prototype for a whole new tradition of private eye thrillers.Here are ten of his classic suspense stories from the twenties and thirties - selected and introduced by Lillian Hellman.The Gutting of Couffignal (35p)Fly Paper (36p)The Scorched Face (41p)This King Business (56p)The Gatewood Caper (18p)Dead Yellow Women (58p)Corkscrew (54p)Tulip (48p)The Big Knockover (57p)$106,000 Blood Money (?)

Complete in one volume, the five books that created the modern American crime novelIn a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel. The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules and characteristic tone for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing. Drawing on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett gave a harshly realistic edge to novels that were at the same time infused with a spirit of romantic adventure. 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.

Introduced by Colin Dexter, one of England's greatest writers of detective fiction, here are twenty long-unavailable stories by Dashiell Hammett, the author of The Maltese Falcon and one of the finest writers of the twentieth century.In the title story, a man on a bender enters a small town and ends up unravelling the dark mystery at its heart. A woman confronts the brutal truth about her husband in the chilling story, The Ruffian's Wife. His Brother's Keeper is a half-wit boxer's eulogy to the brother who betrayed him. The Second Story Angel recounts one of the most novel cons ever devised. In seven stories, the tough and taciturn Continental Op takes on a motley collection of the deceitful, the duped, and the dead, and once again shown his uncanny ability to get at the truth. In three stories, Sam Spade confronts the darkness in the human soul while rolling his own cigarettes. And the first study for The Thin Man sends John Guild on a murder investigation in which almost every witness may be lying.In Nightmare Town, Dashiell Hammett, America's poet laureate of the dispossessed, shows us a world where people confront a multitude of evils. Whether they are trying to right wrongs or just trying to survive, all of them are rendered with Hammett's signature gifts for sharp-edged characters and blunt dialogue.Hammett said that his ambition was to elevate mystery fiction to the level of art. This collection of masterful stories clearly illustrates Hammett's success, and shows the remarkable range and variety of the fiction he produced.As a novelist of realistic intrigue, Hammett was unsurpassed in his own or any day. - Ross MacDonaldA legend of a different kind: exemplary, not only of a certain kind of American fiction, but also of a certain kind of American life - Margaret AtwoodCover photograph: Mark Adams

The three classic novels published here in one volume are rich with the crisp prose, subtle characters, and intricate plots that made Dashiell Hammett one of the most admired writers of the twentieth century. A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel. In The Maltese Falcon , Sam Spade, a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics, tangles with a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. The Thin Man introduces Hammett's wittiest creations, Nick and Nora Charles, who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. And in Red Harvest , Hammett's anonymous tough-guy detective, the Continental Op, takes on the entire town of Poisonville in a deadly war against corruption. "Dashiell Hammett is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer."— Boston Globe ”Hammett was spare, hard-boiled, but he did over and over what only the best writers can ever do. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.”—Raymond Chandler ”Hammett’s prose was clean and entirely unique. His characters were as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction.”— The New York Times ”As a novelist of realistic intrigue, Hammett was unsurpassed in his own or any time.”—Ross Macdonald ”Dashiell Hammett’s dialogues can be compared only with the best in Hemingway.”—André Gide ”Hammett is one of the best contemporary American writers.”—Gertrude Stein

Dashiell Hammett was a crime writer who elevated the genre to true literature, and The Thin Man was Hammett's last--and most successful--novel. Following the enormous success of "The Thin Man" movie in 1934, Hammett was commissioned to write stories for additional films. He wrote two full-length novellas, for the films that became "After the Thin Man" and "Another Thin Man". Bringing back his classic characters, retired private investigator Nick Charles and his former debutante wife Nora, who return home to find Nora’s family gardener murdered, pulling the couple back into another deadly game of cat and mouse. Hammett has written two fully satisfying "Thin Man" stories, with classic, barbed Hammett dialogue and fully developed characters.Neither of these stories has been previously published (except for a partial in a small magazine 25 years ago). The Return of the Thin Man is a hugely entertaining read that brings back two classic characters from one of the greatest of mystery writers who ever lived. This book is destined to become essential reading for Hammett's millions of fans and a new generation of mystery readers the world over.

On a dark night a young woman seeks refuge at an isolated house. She is hurt and frightened. The man and woman who live there take her in. But their decency is utterly unequipped to deal with the Woman in the Dark, or with the designs of the men who want her.First published in installments in Liberty magazine [in 1933] and now rediscovered after many years, Woman in the Dark shows Dashiell Hammett at the peak of his narrative powers. With an introduction by Robert B. Parker, the author of the celebrated Spenser novels.A one-time detective and a maser of deft understatement, Dashiell Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel.

Too many have livedThey can only hang you onceA man called SpadeThe assistant murdererNight shadeThe judge laughed lastHis brother's keeper

In scores of stories written for Black Mask and other pulp magazines in the 1920s and 1930s, Dashiell Hammett used the vernacular adventure tale to register the jarring textures and revved-up cadences of modern America. His stories opened up crime fiction to the realities of American streets and American speech. Now The Library of America collects the finest of them: 24 in all, along with some revealing essays and an early version of his novel The Thin Man. The texts, reprinted here for the first time, are those that appeared originally in the pulps, without the cuts and revisions introduced by later editors.Hammett's years of experience as a Pinkerton detective give even his most outlandishly plotted mysteries a gritty credibility. Mixing melodramatic panache and poker-faced comedy, his stories are hard-edged entertainment for an era of headlong change and extravagant violence, tracking the devious, nearly nihilistic exploits of con men and blackmailers, slumming socialites and deadpan assassins. As guide through this underworld he created the Continental Op, the nameless and deliberately unheroic detective separated from the brutality and corruption around him only by his professionalism.

"The Dashiell Hammett Megapack" collects 20 early and rare stories by the famous mystery writer, plus one poem. Included in this volume OF A GUNARSON PLUSTHE NEW RACKETBODIES PILED UPDEATH ON PINE STREETTHE MAN WHO KILLED DAN ODAMSMIKE, ALEC, OR RUFUSNIGHT SHOTSNIGHTMARE TOWNONE HOURTHE ROAD HOMERUFFIAN’S WIFETHE SECOND-STORY ANGELTHE TENTH CLUEWHO KILLED BOB TEAL?ZIGZAGS OF TREACHERYTHE WAGES OF CRIMENIGHT SHADETHE PARTHIAN SHOTIMMORTALITYCURSE IN THE OLD MANNERAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see many more entries in this series, covering mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, classics, and much, much more!

THE HUNTER AND OTHER STORIES is a unique literary publication from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Dashiell Hammett. This volume includes both new Hammett stories gleaned from his personal archives along with screen treatments long buried in film-industry files. The best of Dashiell Hammett's unfamiliar treasures have been rescued from deep in these archives: screen stories, unpublished and rarely published fiction, and intriguing unfinished narratives. Hammett is regarded as both a pioneer and master of hard-boiled detective fiction, but these dozen and half stories that explore failed romance, courage in the face of conflict, hypocrisy, and crass opportunism, show him in a different light. The collection also includes two full-length screen treatments. "On the Make" is the basis for the rarely seen 1935 film Mr. Dynamite, starring a corrupt detective who never misses an opportunity to take advantage of his clients rather than help them. "The Kiss-Off" is the basis for City Streets (1931), with Sylvia Sydney and Gary Cooper caught in a romance complicated by racketeering's obligations and temptations. Like the screen stories from RETURN OF THE THIN MAN, they read as novellas-rich in both story and character.Publication of these new volumes is due to the passion of Julie M. Rivett, Hammett's granddaughter and a well-regarded Hammett scholar, as well as Richard Layman, the author of the first full-length biography of Hammett, Shadow Man, the definitive bibliography, and other works. Rivett and Layman are trustees for Hammett's literary estate and have co-edited two previous Hammett volumes-Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett and Dashiell Hammett: A Daughter Remembers. THE HUNTER AND OTHER STORIES will appeal to longtime Hammett fans, and introduce a new generation to one of the most influential voices in American fiction.

Dashiell Hammett, the creator of Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon, and The Thin Man, was one of the 20th century’s most influential and entertaining authors. Even so, many of Hammett’s stories—including some of his best—have been out of the reach of anyone but a handful of scholars and collectors, until now. This essential compendium rescues 21 long-lost Hammett stories, all either never collected in an anthology or unavailable for decades. These stories appear nowhere else, and represent a variety of styles from the famous mysterysmith: his first detective fiction, humorous satires, adventure yarns, a sensitive autobiographical piece, and a Thin Man story told with photos. In addition, all stories have been restored to their original versions, replacing often wholesale cuttings with the original text for the first time. To round out this celebration of Hammett, three-time Edgar Award–winner Joe Gores has written an introduction describing how Hammett influenced literature, movies, television, and Gores’ own life.

A San Francisco un detective viene incaricato di rintracciare un uomo scomparso dopo una lite. Nelle sue ricerche si trova nella casa di una strana coppia di vecchi che lo trattengono per il the. Improvvisamente viene aggredito, legato e imbavagliato e rimane cosi coinvolto, con l'imbarazzante presenza di una ragazza, in un misterioso caso di furto e omicidio.

For the first time ever in one volume, all 28 stories plus one unfinished and the 2 serialized novels starring the Continental Op--one of the greatest characters in the storied history of detective fiction.Dashiell Hammett is the father of modern hard-boiled detective stories. His legendary works have been lauded for almost one hundred years by fans, and his novel 'The Maltese Falcon' was adapted into one of the greatest classic films of all time - starring Humphrey Bogart.One of Hammett's most memorable characters, the Continental Op, made his debut in 'Black Mask' magazine on October 1, 1923. It was the first of a set of stories and novels that would change forever the face of detective fiction. The Op is a tough, wry, unglamorous gumshoe who has inspired a following that is both global and enduring. He has been published in periodicals, paperback digests, and short story collections but, until 2017, he has never had the whole of his exploits contained in one book! 'The Big Book .. ' features all the original standalone Continental Op stories, the original serialized versions of 'Red Harvest' and 'The Dain Curse,' and previously unpublished material. This anthology of Continental Op stories is the only complete, one-volume work of its kind.Librarian's note #1: the short stories are: 1. Arson Plus, 2. Crooked Souls, 3. Slippery Fingers, 4. It, 5. Bodies Piled Up, 6. The Tenth Clew, 7. Night Shots, 8. Zigzags of Treachery, 9. One Hour, 10. The House on Turk Street, 11. The Girl with the Silver Eyes, 12. Women, Politics & Murder, 13. The Golden Horseshoe, 14. Who Killed Bob Teal? 15. Mike or Alec or Rufus, 16. The Whosis Kid, 17. The Scorched Face, 18. Corkscrew, 19. Dead Yellow Women, 20. The Gutting of Couffignal, 21. Creeping Siamese, 22. The Big Knock-Over, 23. $106,000 Blood Money, 24. The Main Death, 25. This King Business, 26. Fly Paper, 27. The Farewell Murder, 28. Death and Company and, 29. Three Dimes (unfinished). Librarian's note #2: the two serialized novels are: 1. The Cleansing of Poisonville (which later became Red Harvest), and 2. The Dain Curse.Librarian's note #3: this entry relates to the collection, 'The Big Book of the Continental Op.' Each of the individual stories and novels can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can be found by searching GR for: 'a Continental Op Short Story.'

BloodMoney , first published in 1927 in Black Mask magazine as The Big Knockover and $106,000 Blood Money is a classic Continental Op detective thriller by master-of-the-genre (and one if its creators) Dashiell Hammett. The story is one of Hammett's first novel-length books, and is written in his trademark sparse, realistic style. Blood Money opens with a massive robbery of two adjacent San Francisco banks, involving dozens of colorful gangsters, followed by the king-pin's deadly dispatch of many of the same participants in the robbery. Later, the detective attempts to locate and bring-to-justice the plot mastermind and recover the large reward. Unexpected twists along the way keep the reader turning pages to the exciting conclusion.

This classic tale is the first appearance of The Continental Op, a character who would eventually appear in well over two dozen stories. It was first published in Black Mask in 1923.Our purposely unnamed private detective is stationed in San Francisco and goes out to Sacramento County to investigate an arson at the Thornburgh house on behalf of the Continental Detective Agency's client, an insurance company. The insurance policy was recent and the company wants to be sure it was legitimate before covering the claim. It turns out to be anything but straight forward! Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, Arson Plus. Entries for collections of short stories and the other individual stories can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can all be found by searching Goodreads for: a Continental Op Short Story.Librarian's note #2: there are also two Continental Op novels, Red Harvest (also known as The Cleansing of Poisonville), and The Dain Curse.

One of the most popular American writers of the twentieth century, Dashiell Hammett gave us crime fiction stripped down to its most subtle and searing essentials and, at the same time, elevated to literature. The diamond-sharp prose and artfully manipulated intrigue for which he is known are on full display in the four classic short stories and two riveting novels published here in one volume. The Continental Op, Hammett’s anonymous antihero, was the indelible prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. Single-minded, emotionally detached, and decidedly unglamorous, he narrates the four linked stories collected here—“The House in Turk Street,” “The Girl with the Silver Eyes,” “The Big Knockover,” and “$106,000 Blood Money.” In THE DAIN CURSE, the Continental Op takes on his most bizarre case, that of a wealthy young woman who appears to be the victim of a deadly family curse. And THE GLASS KEY—Hammett’s own favorite among his works—features his most cynical and morally ambiguous hero, Ned Beaumont, caught in a hard-boiled love triangle.

The Four Great The Dain Curse; The Glass Key; The Maltese Falcon; Red Harvest (Picador Books)

The Detective Megapack presents 30 choice mysteries, spanning the Victorian age through modern times. From Dashiell Hammet to Arthur Conan Doyle, from Vincent Starrett to Johnston McCulley -- there is something for every fan of detective tales!ARSON PLUS, by Dashiell HammettIT TORE THE LAUGH FROM MY THROAT, by Meriah L CrawfordTHE TAGGART ASSIGNMENT, by Vincent StarrettTOMORROW’S DEAD, by David DeanTHE FLAMING PHANTOM, by Jacques FutrelleMESSAGE IN THE SAND, by John L. FrenchTHE ASSISTANT MURDERER, by Dashiell HammettALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, by C.J. HendersonTHE RED THUMB MARK, by R. Austin FreemanMONSIEUR LECOQ, by Emile GaboriauTHE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, by Edgar Allan PoeHELL-BENT FOR THE MORGUE, by Don LarsonDEATH OF THE FLUTE, by Arthur J. BurksOH FANNY, by Raymond LesterCLANCY, DETECTIVE, By H. Bedford-JonesTHE TATTOOED MAN, by William J. MakinTRIGGER MEN, by Eustace CockrellBUTTERFLY OF DEATH, by Harold GluckMY BONNIE LIES…, by Ted HertelTHUBWAY THAM, FASHION PLATE, by Johnston McCulleyTHE MURDER AT TROYTE’S HILL, by Catherine Louisa PirkisTHE AFFAIR OF THE CORRIDOR EXPRESS, by Victor L. WhitechurchSECRET SUGGESTION, by Vincent H. O’NeilTHE FIVE ORANGE PIPS, by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleBLACK SUNRISE, by Jack HallidayTHE LION’S SMILE, by Thomas W. HanshewTHE NAIL, by Pedro de AlarçonTHE ROME EXPRESS, by Arthur GriffithsIN THE FOG, by Richard Harding DavisOFFICER DOWN, by Robert J. MendenhallAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "wildside megapack" to see all the entries in Wildside's "Megapack" series -- including volumes of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, westerns, and much, much more!

Before Dashiell Hammett introduced such iconic sleuths as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon or Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man, he put to work the most influential detective ever to scour America’s hard-boiled literary landscape. An operative of San Francisco’s Continental Detective Agency, the Continental Op was a world-weary, pragmatic, and inelegant company man—and though always nameless, he has remained as distinctive as a fingerprint.

A classic mystery from Dashiell Hammett.

Meet Sam Spade, the quintessential private eye known for his cold detachment, keen perception, and unending determination. This ultimate collection of Sam Spade stories includes The Maltese Falcon , in which Sam dodges bullets, searches for exotic items, and plays on both sides of the law when he is hired by an alluring woman to follow a man. This collection also includes the three Sam Spade short stories A Man Called Spade , Too Many Have Lived , and They Can Only Hang You Once . Dashiell Hammett is widely recognized as the founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction. The Maltese Falcon has been adapted for radio, stage, and film, including the 1941 Academy Award-nominated movie starring Humphrey Bogart. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

"L'abilità artistica di Raymond ha aiutato a rendere il 1934 un anno da ricordare come tra i migliori della storia del fumetto americano. Il capolavoro di Milton Caniff, "Terry e i pirati", ha debuttato nell'ottobre del '34; Lil'Abner di Al Capp, un pungente mix di satira e avventure montanare, è uscito due mesi prima; altre storie che sono rimaste, come "Mandrake il mago", sono lanciate all'inizio dell'anno. Ma Alex Raymond guida la parata con le sue illustrazioni, tra "Flash Gordon" e "Jungle Jim" che schizzano alle stelle sui giornali della domenica dal 7 gennaio in poi, seguiti da "Agente Segreto X-9" che esce il lunedì nelle edizioni dal 22 gennaio in poi." (Dall'Introduzione di Bruce Canwell)

How about this tempting introduction in Black Mask magazine to the short story when it first appeared in 1924? "There were enough clews in this crime to give Mr. Hammett's nameless detective a year or so of work. But solving a mystery in that length of time didn't appeal to him. He wanted faster action - and he got it in good measure. So will you if you begin this entertaining novelette."The Op has a late evening appointment with Leopold Gantvoort, subject unknown. When he arrives, his client is not there and the Op soon discovers Mr. Gantvoort has been murdered in strange circumstances.Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, Arson Plus. Entries for collections of short stories and the other individual stories can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can all be found by searching Goodreads for: a Continental Op Short Story.Librarian's note #2: there are also two Continental Op novels, Red Harvest (also known as The Cleansing of Poisonville), and The Dain Curse.