Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continetal Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. In these stories the Op unravels a murder with too many clues, looks for a girl with eyes the color of shadows on polished silver, and tangles with a crooked-eared gunman called the Whosis Kid.

Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Op's one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hell's acre in the Arizona desert, and the bank job to end all bank jobs, along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor, Bluepoint Vance, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.

Detective-story master Dashiell Hammett gives us yet another unforgettable read in Red Harvest 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. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.

In Dashiell Hammett's famous crime novel, we meet one of the detective-story master's most enchanting creations, Nick and Nora Charles, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a classic murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

A coolly glittering gem of detective fiction that has haunted three generations of readers, from one of the greatest mystery writers of all time.

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 Dashiel Hammett's iconic, influential, and beloved The Maltese Falcon.

A young, frightened, foreign woman appears at the door of an isolated house. The man and woman inside take her in. Other strangers appear in pursuit of the girl. Menace is in the air.
Originally published in 1933, Hammett's Woman in the Dark shows the author at the peak of his narrative powers. With an introduction by Robert B. Parker, the author of the celebrated Spenser novels.

In der Stadt Peaceville, auch Poisonville oder Pissville genannt, greift die Korruption um sich. Donald Willsson, ein Journalist, der die Bestechungsmethoden in Peaceville unerschrocken anprangerte, wird tot aufgefunden. Elihu Willsson, Vater des Ermordeten und mächtigster Mann der Stadt, wendet sich an den Continental Op. Der Detektiv soll herausfinden, wer seinen Sohn getötet hat.

Many of the hardboiled and pulp detective stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

A collection of some of the finest stories from Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon.

A unique publication from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, "The Hunter and Other Stories" includes new Hammett stories gleaned from his personal archives along with screen treatments long buried in film-industry files, screen stories, and intriguing unfinished narratives.
Hammett is regarded as both a pioneer and master of hard-boiled detective fiction, but these dozen-and-a-half pieces, which explore failed romance, courage in the face of conflict, hypocrisy, and crass opportunism, show him in a different light.
The title story concerns a dogged PI unwilling to...