Publication
Library of America (1999), 967 pages
Original publication date
1965-10
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Genres
Description
"In 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 for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing." "Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929), a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town, epitomizes the violence and momentum of Hammett's Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op. The Op returns, in The Dain Curse (1929), to preside over a more ornately melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a mysterious religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930), and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success. A tightly constructed quest story with an unforgettable cast of eccentric adventures, it is at the same time shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny." "The Glass Key (1931), an exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous, traces intricate patterns of loyalty and betrayal in scenes charged with drama." "His last novel, The Thin Man (1934), is a ruefully comic tale that pays homage to the traditional mystery form. It is best remembered for its protagonists Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies."--Jacket.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Mike-L
A great collection of hard-boiled classics. My only previous experience with Dashiell Hammett (apart from the classic films made from his movies) was a short story featuring The Continental Op. I was a little surprised at the amount of dry wit that was mixed among the wisecracks - some of the humor
RED HARVEST: For my money the best of the bunch. The Continental Op blows into a corrupt town called Personville - known by locals as Poisonville - to find that his client has been murdered. As he goes about solving the murder, one thing leads to another, then another, and in the process he decides to clean up the town by turning the whole hierarchy of corrupt police, bootleggers, and racketeers against each other and against the old man who has established himself as czar over the town. The Continental Op is adept at manipulating the various factions against each other even when he's not really sure what the result will be "Plans are all right sometimes. And sometimes just stirring things up is all right." The Op is smooth, and cynical... yet he believes in justice and personal honor.
THE DAIN CURSE: Three connected stories that feature Dain family descendant Gabrielle Leggett, who is convinced that she suffers from the tragic family curse that causes terrible misery and hardship for those of the Dain blood as well as those who surround them. It's three different mysteries that are interconnected by an overriding theme and the final solution ties everything up in a fairly tidy manner. It's interesting, not great in the same way of some of Hammett's other stories, but definitely not sub-par.
THE MALTESE FALCON: Possibly Hammett's most well known novel. Private detective Sam Spade becomes involved with a group of thieves who are out to cheat and/or kill each other in their quest to recover the title statue. I'm probably going to break with a lot of other reviewers because I just am not that crazy about this particular story - I really think the first person narrative is Hammett's strongest style and this is told in third person. It's a good story but I think both RED HARVEST and THE GLASS KEY (also told in third person narrative) are much better. Might be because I'm more familiar with this one than any of the others - because of the classic film - so it wasn't as new or exciting to me to discover all these interesting characters and their various angles in attempting to best one another and Spade.
THE GLASS KEY: Gambler Ned Beaumont, best friend and right hand man of corrupt political boss Paul Madvig, discovers the body of a Senator's son lying in the street. Because of implications that Madvig might be involved Ned sets out to find the killer amidst a brewing gang war between Madvig and a rival crime boss. This is a GREAT story. Not a typical story of good guys versus bad guys this is a story full of flawed, corrupt people - there are no innocent bystanders. Much like in RED HARVEST there is a sense of desperation among many of the characters as they try to serve their own interests while still coming out on the winning side.
THE THIN MAN: Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy socialite wife Nora return to Nick's former home town, New York City, to spend the Christmas and New Year's holidays only to be reluctantly drawn into a rather complicated murder mystery involving an eccentric inventor and the inventor's equally odd family. This is chock full of wisecracks, wit and silliness - especially in the banter between Mr. and Mrs. Charles. It struck me as almost a parody of the old fashioned English mysteries that often involved upper crust families trying to remain "civilized" in the midst of some inconvenient murder that is trying to disrupt their holiday routine. Instead of a well mannered detective who is trying not to cause any undue trauma to the family you have the hard drinking, wisecracking American detective who isn't the least bit concerned about the family's reputation (since "they're all crazy" anyway) and is more interested in getting a drink than being involved in the investigation. It's a good story but I have to admit that had I not been familiar with the movie of the same name I don't know if I would have been able to follow it so well or pick up on all the humor in much of the banter and wisecracks.
Other than a few racial and homosexual slurs that were common expressions for the time and a lot of violence in some of the stories (RED HARVEST particularly) there isn't anything that would prove particularly offensive to a modern audience. All content falls well within a PG rating.
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is very nuanced. I also found his style to be more streamlined and plot driven in comparison to someone like Raymond Chandler who seemed to be more about style than plot coherency. Mr. Hammett sets the scene with concise bits of description, his characters are developed through action and the stories follow a clear path to resolution. His themes seem to run along the lines that almost everyone is corrupt in some way, and even though it might be difficult to attain, justice of one kind or another IS possible.RED HARVEST: For my money the best of the bunch. The Continental Op blows into a corrupt town called Personville - known by locals as Poisonville - to find that his client has been murdered. As he goes about solving the murder, one thing leads to another, then another, and in the process he decides to clean up the town by turning the whole hierarchy of corrupt police, bootleggers, and racketeers against each other and against the old man who has established himself as czar over the town. The Continental Op is adept at manipulating the various factions against each other even when he's not really sure what the result will be "Plans are all right sometimes. And sometimes just stirring things up is all right." The Op is smooth, and cynical... yet he believes in justice and personal honor.
THE DAIN CURSE: Three connected stories that feature Dain family descendant Gabrielle Leggett, who is convinced that she suffers from the tragic family curse that causes terrible misery and hardship for those of the Dain blood as well as those who surround them. It's three different mysteries that are interconnected by an overriding theme and the final solution ties everything up in a fairly tidy manner. It's interesting, not great in the same way of some of Hammett's other stories, but definitely not sub-par.
THE MALTESE FALCON: Possibly Hammett's most well known novel. Private detective Sam Spade becomes involved with a group of thieves who are out to cheat and/or kill each other in their quest to recover the title statue. I'm probably going to break with a lot of other reviewers because I just am not that crazy about this particular story - I really think the first person narrative is Hammett's strongest style and this is told in third person. It's a good story but I think both RED HARVEST and THE GLASS KEY (also told in third person narrative) are much better. Might be because I'm more familiar with this one than any of the others - because of the classic film - so it wasn't as new or exciting to me to discover all these interesting characters and their various angles in attempting to best one another and Spade.
THE GLASS KEY: Gambler Ned Beaumont, best friend and right hand man of corrupt political boss Paul Madvig, discovers the body of a Senator's son lying in the street. Because of implications that Madvig might be involved Ned sets out to find the killer amidst a brewing gang war between Madvig and a rival crime boss. This is a GREAT story. Not a typical story of good guys versus bad guys this is a story full of flawed, corrupt people - there are no innocent bystanders. Much like in RED HARVEST there is a sense of desperation among many of the characters as they try to serve their own interests while still coming out on the winning side.
THE THIN MAN: Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy socialite wife Nora return to Nick's former home town, New York City, to spend the Christmas and New Year's holidays only to be reluctantly drawn into a rather complicated murder mystery involving an eccentric inventor and the inventor's equally odd family. This is chock full of wisecracks, wit and silliness - especially in the banter between Mr. and Mrs. Charles. It struck me as almost a parody of the old fashioned English mysteries that often involved upper crust families trying to remain "civilized" in the midst of some inconvenient murder that is trying to disrupt their holiday routine. Instead of a well mannered detective who is trying not to cause any undue trauma to the family you have the hard drinking, wisecracking American detective who isn't the least bit concerned about the family's reputation (since "they're all crazy" anyway) and is more interested in getting a drink than being involved in the investigation. It's a good story but I have to admit that had I not been familiar with the movie of the same name I don't know if I would have been able to follow it so well or pick up on all the humor in much of the banter and wisecracks.
Other than a few racial and homosexual slurs that were common expressions for the time and a lot of violence in some of the stories (RED HARVEST particularly) there isn't anything that would prove particularly offensive to a modern audience. All content falls well within a PG rating.
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LibraryThing member datrappert
At first, I couldn't get into Hammett as I could Raymond Chandler. Chandler writes so beautifully, you just sink into it, even if the plot makes no senses. Hammett, on the other hand, can't be pinned down so easy. He goes from the Maltese Falcon, which is somewhat like a Chandler book, to the Thin
(Please don't think I'm knocking Chandler - I give him five star reviews also. He is a superior stylist to Hammett -- indeed, he is one of the great writers in the English language. But he wasn't as creative when it came to plots and settings. He used the same character in each of his novels, unlike Hammett, whose protagonists may share some traits, but are hardly the same.)
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Man, which is very different in tone, and in between, you have the Glass Key, which seems to float in some sort of borderland between waking and dreams. When you read these books in order and you come to that one, you expect the story to become more normal at some point, but it never does. Chandler wrote the same novel (to a large extent) each time--Hammett never wrote the same on twice. Strange then that he gave up on writing so early - or maybe that is the reason. He wasn't content to do the same thing over and over.(Please don't think I'm knocking Chandler - I give him five star reviews also. He is a superior stylist to Hammett -- indeed, he is one of the great writers in the English language. But he wasn't as creative when it came to plots and settings. He used the same character in each of his novels, unlike Hammett, whose protagonists may share some traits, but are hardly the same.)
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LibraryThing member nefernika
My dad sent me this multiple-novel edition when I was living in Ecuador and would get pretty hungry for books written in English. I had never really heard of Dashiell Hammett, but once I had his books in my hand, I pretty much read all five novels in one sitting. My roommate probably thought I was
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in a coma, I sat still so long. Whenever I read a little Hammett, I start wanting to talk about "dames" and drink mixed drinks. I love all of his books, but if you can only read ONE, I suggest /The Thin Man/, first because it has a married couple as the PI, and second because the characters guzzle alcohol at the rate of about 2 mixed drinks per paragraph, a ratio I have never before seen, even in memoirs about serious alcoholism. It's fantastic. If these were real people, none of them would have livers by the time they were forty pages in. Show Less
LibraryThing member billiecat
I re-read Hammett's novels after acquiring a battered copy of this omnibus at a library sale. These novels show one of the fathers of "hard boiled" detective novels at work, and while they are entertaining and important to any understanding of the genre, they should not be taken too seriously. "The
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Maltese Falcon" features several passages of turgid prose that detract from Hammett's objective style; "Red Harvest" is almost cartoonish in it's violence, "The Dain Curse" at times seems like a collaboration with Gothic writer Matthew "Monk" Lewis instead of a detective novel. Nevertheless, all of these novels retain interest for the reader and are far above what was being published by inferior writers of the same genres. Of the remaining two novels, "The Glass Key" was considered by Hammet himself as his best work, and almost impenetrable psychological plotting and well-drawn characters give that claim some weight; while "The Thin Man" is a fine romp with a hint of melancholy as you can see in the heavy drinking of the hero the signs of Hammett's own decline. Show Less
LibraryThing member comfypants
Red Harvest: Solid suspense, lots of action, and some humorous prose. 3.5/5. 4-20-2011.
The Thin Man: A very entertaining whodunit. Hammett manages to make his characters lovable and fun, even though most of them would be awful people in real life. It consists mostly of snappy dialog, and almost
The Thin Man: A very entertaining whodunit. Hammett manages to make his characters lovable and fun, even though most of them would be awful people in real life. It consists mostly of snappy dialog, and almost
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reads more like a screenplay than a novel, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 4.5/5. 3-28-2010 (read in different edition). Show Less
LibraryThing member elenchus
THE THIN MAN | read pre-2007
Recognisable from the movie, but a distinct tone, the slapstick much more a creation of Van Dyke than Hammett. Each work succeeds on its own terms. I suspect my reading experience was profoundly influenced by my familiarity with the film, and aim to re-read after
RED HARVEST | read 2016-05
Strong similarity to Chinatown in opening set-up, including bedside visit with ailing patriarch. Interestingly, we never learn Continental Op's name, he's asked directly a couple times (almost a joke of Hammett's?) but his deflections never become wooden or overwrought. The Op discerns answers in clues given the reader, mostly correct but not always. They are not clues that point only to one answer, his experience allows him first to discern what the clue implies and then, to select from alternatives, when the reader is unlikely to do either. Fun and substantive.
To be read:
THE DAIN CURSE
THE MALTESE FALCON
THE GLASS KEY
Recognisable from the movie, but a distinct tone, the slapstick much more a creation of Van Dyke than Hammett. Each work succeeds on its own terms. I suspect my reading experience was profoundly influenced by my familiarity with the film, and aim to re-read after
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becoming better acquainted with Hammet's distinct style. RED HARVEST | read 2016-05
Strong similarity to Chinatown in opening set-up, including bedside visit with ailing patriarch. Interestingly, we never learn Continental Op's name, he's asked directly a couple times (almost a joke of Hammett's?) but his deflections never become wooden or overwrought. The Op discerns answers in clues given the reader, mostly correct but not always. They are not clues that point only to one answer, his experience allows him first to discern what the clue implies and then, to select from alternatives, when the reader is unlikely to do either. Fun and substantive.
To be read:
THE DAIN CURSE
THE MALTESE FALCON
THE GLASS KEY
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
THE MALTESE FALCON
July 11, 2017
I'm not a big fan of Hammett, but I revisited this as my daughter was reading it for a RL book club. I can never remember the actual story here. Now I know why. There isn't a particle of story in it. A few people get bumped off, a lot of dumb slang gets thrown about,
July 11, 2017
I'm not a big fan of Hammett, but I revisited this as my daughter was reading it for a RL book club. I can never remember the actual story here. Now I know why. There isn't a particle of story in it. A few people get bumped off, a lot of dumb slang gets thrown about,
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and a woman acts like a complete ninny. Pages and pages are spent in pointless argument about how to go about something, neither side presenting any new reasons for "doing it my way". I like me a good noir novel; this one failed to establish the atmosphere for me. I love a fine hard-boiled detective, but Sam Spade has nothing to love. Sorry to trash a classic, but I'm not impressed. Also, there's the misogyny, and the fairly distasteful representation of homosexuals. Show Less
LibraryThing member languagehat
Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, The Thin Man: the complete novels of the greatest mystery writer America has produced. If you haven't read The Maltese Falcon or The Glass Key, go remedy the omission immediately.
LibraryThing member dcnorm1
Six novels in six years! Has there ever been their like. True, there are patterns: the mysterious, often unnamed protagonist (Just the :Operative" in the red Harvest; Sam Spade, of course, in The Maltese Falcon) with power and influence whose source is never explained; uneven portraits of the
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police, but uniformly tough, sometimes cruel, never there first; sexy women, albeit never graphic sexual descriptions, except a minor one in The Thin Man. Occasionally made fusty by age, they nevertheless hold up – for the tight dialogue, for the cynicism about municipal corruption (esp. Red Harvest), and unrelenting noir quality (except for The Thin Man), a comedy of sort albeit bordering on fantasy. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
So far I have read Red Harvest.
LibraryThing member wildbill
This novel has a distinctively different atmosphere and tone from the the other novels I have read by Dashiell Hammett. It has none of the dark noir quality of The Red Harvest and Sam Spade would be distinctly out of place at a party given by Nick and Nora Charles. Hammett's smooth transition to
The old client was Clyde Wynant. His ex-wife married a European gigolo and now they are the Jorgensen family. Mimi, the ex-wife, is still attractive and has a bubbly exterior. She can also be mean as a snake when protecting what she wants. Nick Charles explains that Mimi always lies and when she is caught she will just come up with a different lie until you get tired of asking her questions. Her 18 year old son walks around snooping on everybody and asking about the meaning life. His sister Dorothy is a little older, an attractive airhead who spends a lot of time in speakeasies.
Hammett rounds out the characters with Wynant's lawyer and the ubiquitous Police Detective. The detective has some depth but the lawyer seems the typical high money professional and not very likeable. The plot moves well and has a good share of interesting twists and turns. They all spend a lot of time drinking and there is another murder to keep the story going. The ending is well done, very quickly with a surprise that ties up a lot of loose ends.
I thought the book was very well written. The author is able to shift moods quickly and his characters leave vivid lasting memories. This was a good book and I recommend it as an intelligent enjoyable reading experience. Hammett's five novels certainly left quite an impact on American literature.
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such a different style of writing is a master craftsman at work. Hammett gives Nick Charles the witty repartee you might hear from Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker at the Algonquin Round Table. He wakes up at 11:00 a.m. and his first words are a request for "Something to cut the phlegm." He has a slick self confidence and does not appear to be fooled by the emotional posing of the Jorgensen family. Nora possesses an insightful intelligence and gets her share of good lines poking fun at Nick. At the same time there is a suspenseful murder story playing out to keep the reader interested. The story is set in the 1930's but the Depression is never mentioned. Nick is an ex-detective who now works full-time managing his wife's money. The story begins with the murder of someone connected to an old client of Nick's. The old client was Clyde Wynant. His ex-wife married a European gigolo and now they are the Jorgensen family. Mimi, the ex-wife, is still attractive and has a bubbly exterior. She can also be mean as a snake when protecting what she wants. Nick Charles explains that Mimi always lies and when she is caught she will just come up with a different lie until you get tired of asking her questions. Her 18 year old son walks around snooping on everybody and asking about the meaning life. His sister Dorothy is a little older, an attractive airhead who spends a lot of time in speakeasies.
Hammett rounds out the characters with Wynant's lawyer and the ubiquitous Police Detective. The detective has some depth but the lawyer seems the typical high money professional and not very likeable. The plot moves well and has a good share of interesting twists and turns. They all spend a lot of time drinking and there is another murder to keep the story going. The ending is well done, very quickly with a surprise that ties up a lot of loose ends.
I thought the book was very well written. The author is able to shift moods quickly and his characters leave vivid lasting memories. This was a good book and I recommend it as an intelligent enjoyable reading experience. Hammett's five novels certainly left quite an impact on American literature.
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LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
Well, of the five, two are masterpieces - The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man! The other three are really good tales, two of which star the Continental Op, who happens to be a favorite of mine. I mean what's not to like? A self-described over weight detective whose name we never learn! Anyway, the
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first novel, "Red Harvest" is an Op tale and one that gets super complicated, super quick! A whole host of gangsters want to run Personville, or Poisonville as the locals call it, and the Op runs a muck between them! He does survive, as he is also the main character of "The Dain Curse"! Anyway, 5 novels of cool crime writing are waiting for you within these pages! Show Less
LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
Well, of the five, two are masterpieces - The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man! The other three are really good tales, two of which star the Continental Op, who happens to be a favorite of mine. I mean what's not to like? A self-described over weight detective whose name we never learn! Anyway, the
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first novel, "Red Harvest" is an Op tale and one that gets super complicated, super quick! A whole host of gangsters want to run Personville, or Poisonville as the locals call it, and the Op runs a muck between them! He does survive, as he is also the main character of "The Dain Curse"! Anyway, 5 novels of cool crime writing are waiting for you within these pages! Show Less
LibraryThing member ValerieAndBooks
Five Dashiell Hammett novels in one volume (an older edition). After finding this at an used bookstore, I read the first two novels some time ago but don't really remember anything about them at all. I kept trying to get into The Maltese Falcon, but just couldn't. Finally gave up -- I don't know if
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the hard-boiled detective genre is for me. I may give other authors a try, eventually. I'm keeping this for now, though, because my younger son has said he wanted to read this -- it may be more up his alley, he likes James Bond and such. Show Less
LibraryThing member pgmcc
Red Harvest:
I enjoyed Red Harvest very much. It was a real throwback story and had all the Detective Noir elements: a hero detective who didn't mind bending the rules to get things done but whose heart is in the right place; gangsters who stopped at nothing to get what they wanted; a woman who may
While the beginning of the story was relatively low in its humour it did warm up in this regard with fun and sarcasm making more appearances as time went on.
I was warned that the title was a reference to the body count in this story. I can vouch for the validity of that, but unlike some more recent books, and like many films of today, there is no gore. Someone gets shot and they are down. No gruesome descriptions of injuries. I prefer it this way. Gruesome descriptions of injuries or graphic movie scenes showing how clever the special effects people can be, are like broken pencils: pointless.
Has this book encouraged me to read more Dashiell Hammett stories?
Yes!
Would I recommend this book?
Yes!
Who would I consider recommending this book to?
Anyone who likes murder mysteries.
I enjoyed Red Harvest very much. It was a real throwback story and had all the Detective Noir elements: a hero detective who didn't mind bending the rules to get things done but whose heart is in the right place; gangsters who stopped at nothing to get what they wanted; a woman who may
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or may not have interested him personally; a Mr. Big money-man; bent coppers; guns; knives; shady streets; etc...While the beginning of the story was relatively low in its humour it did warm up in this regard with fun and sarcasm making more appearances as time went on.
I was warned that the title was a reference to the body count in this story. I can vouch for the validity of that, but unlike some more recent books, and like many films of today, there is no gore. Someone gets shot and they are down. No gruesome descriptions of injuries. I prefer it this way. Gruesome descriptions of injuries or graphic movie scenes showing how clever the special effects people can be, are like broken pencils: pointless.
Has this book encouraged me to read more Dashiell Hammett stories?
Yes!
Would I recommend this book?
Yes!
Who would I consider recommending this book to?
Anyone who likes murder mysteries.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1883011671 / 9781883011673
Physical description
967 p.; 5.16 inches
Pages
967