Whether chasing hoodlums or solving impossible murders, Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op is one of the toughest detectives in the history of crime fiction The Continental Op is going over his expense reports when a raw-boned man staggers through the door of his office, stretches out his arms, and dies. As the stranger falls to the floor, he utters a final word: Hell. It’s apt, because this man’s death will drag the Op right into the inferno. The contents of the man’s pockets are enough to send the Op off in search of his identity, his connection to San Francisco, and the treacherous underworld dealings of both the victim and his killers. The Continental Op made his name taking punches and dodging bullets, but unraveling “The Creeping Siamese” is the kind of mystery that will baffle even him. This story, along with “The Big Knock-Over” and “$106,000 Blood Money,” is a testament to the enduring genius of Dashiell Hammett.

WHO KILLED BOB TEAL? AND OTHER DETECTIVE STORIES contains fifteen detective tales by Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961). Often regarded as one of the United States' most successful detective writers, Hammett created the characters of Nick and Nora Charles (THE THIN MAN) and the hard-boiled detective Sam Spade (THE MALTESE FALCON). • The Assistant Murder • Arson Plus • Who Killed Bob Teal? • Afraid of a Gun • Bodies Piled Up • Death on Pine Street • Mike, Alec, or Rufus • Night Shots • Nightmare Town • One Hour • Ruffian’s Wife • The Man Who Killed Dan Odoms • The Second-Story Angel • The Tenth Clew • Zigzags of Treachery

This Halcyon classics ebook contains three stories by detective writer Samuel Dashiell Hammett. Hammett is best known for his creation of the hard-boiled detective Sam Spade (THE MALTESE FALCON) and Nick and Nora Charles (THE THIN MAN). This ebook includes an active table of contents for easy navigation. The Assistant Murderer Arson Plus Who Killed Bob Teal?

From the sands of Arizona to the alleys of the Tenderloin, the Continental Op deals out *rough* justice, in this collection of short stories from master of noir fiction Dashiell Hammett In the Arizona desert, the sun’s high, the heat’s relentless, and there’s murder in the air. Across this long stretch of sunbaked hell, one town stands out as the worst of all. Someone is killing the cowboys of Corkscrew, and Continental Op has been hired to stop the slaughter. From the moment he rides into town, he tastes dust on his teeth and blood in the wind. The locals have no respect for this hardboiled San Francisco detective, so it’s up to the Op to show them he deserves his badge. But before peace can come to Corkscrew, more men will die. A portrait of a tough man in a rough town, “Corkscrew” offers a taste of Dashiell Hammett’s first novel, the legendary epic of hardboiled violence Red Harvest. Along with the other stories in this volume—“Dead Yellow Women” and “The Gutting of Couffignal”—it shows Hammett and his infamous Continental Op at the top of their forms.

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 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 master of deft understatement, Dashiell Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel.

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. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Samuel Dashiell Hammett ;[2] May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, screenwriter, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse).

*Follow crime fiction’s toughest hero from San Francisco to the Mexican *frontier in the third installment of the Collected Case Files of the Continental Op The Continental Op is short, fat, and aging—but don’t let his appearance deceive you. Handy with a gun, and always willing to take a roundhouse to the chin, the Op is the toughest sleuth San Francisco has ever seen. And when a rich Englishwoman hires him to find her estranged husband, the Op thinks he’s in for an easy job. But the husband is an addict last seen in Tijuana, and finding him will take the hardboiled detective past the border and into a hellhole called the Golden Horseshoe. Before Nick Charles or Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett made his mark with the adventures of the Continental Op, whose particular brand of justice defined the legendary Black Mask style. In “The Golden Horseshoe,” “The House in Turk Street,” and “The Girl with the Silver Eyes,” the Op follows his cases from civility to temptation and back again.

The Continental Op is a short, squat, and utterly unsentimental tank of a private detective. Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett is young, wealthy, and a devotee of morphine and religious cults. She has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying violently. Is Gabrielle the victim of a family curse? Or is the truth about her weirder and infinitely more dangerous? The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op's most bizarre cases, and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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 three 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. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better: the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him? Dashiell Hammett's tour de force of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness. A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Dashiell Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel.  This classic Hammet work of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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 MacDonald A 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 Atwood Cover photograph: Mark Adams

TABLE of CONTENTSAFRAID OF A GUNARSON PLUSTHE ASSISTANT MURDERERTHE MAN WHO KILLED DAN ODAMSDEATH ON PINE STREETWHO KILLED BOB TEAL?MIKE, ALEC, OR RUFUSNIGHTMARE TOWNNIGHT SHOTSBODIES PILED UPTHE ROAD HOMERUFFIAN'S WIFETHE SECOND-STORY ANGELTHE TENTH CLEW

Whether chasing debutants or gunning down killers, the legendary Continental Op doesn’t miss a beat, in this collection of short stories from master of noir fiction Dashiell Hammett From the day she was born, Sue Hambleton has wanted to tell her family to go to hell. Bred to be a debutante, Sue’s more at home in the back alleys of the Bowery than the ballrooms of Fifth Avenue. When she’s finally old enough, she bolts, shacking up with a series of machine-gun artists, killers, and thieves in a debauched spree that takes her across the country and out of her family’s shadow. But when she finally surfaces in San Francisco, she becomes the Continental Op’s problem—the deadliest problem he will ever have. Years of working as a private investigator gave Dashiell Hammett unique insight into life at the edge of the underworld. In “Fly Paper,” “The Farewell Murder,” and “Death and Company,” this pioneer of the hardboiled is shown at his very best.

From the annals of Black Mask come the two-fisted adventures of the original hardboiled PI: Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op Jeffrey Main comes home from Los Angeles with $20,000 in his wallet and a target on his back. Two gunmen burst through the door, instigating a scuffle that leaves Main dead, his wife unconscious, and the money long gone. At least, that’s the way the cops tell it. The police see no other way the killers could have escaped so easily, and the case falls to the Continental Op—San Francisco’s most ruthless private detective. Behind this strange murder lurks a toxic case of greed, and the Op must risk his neck to learn who pulled the trigger. “The Main Death” is vintage Dashiell Hammett, the sort of hard-driving tale that made him a legend and made Black Mask the most respected of all the pulp magazines. Paired with “This King Business” in this captivating collection of Hammett’s later Continental Op stories, it is a fine reminder that hardboiled action never goes out of style. Praise for Dashiell Hammett “Hammett was the ace performer. . . . He did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.” —Raymond Chandler, author of The Big Sleep “Hammett was the great poet of the great American collision—personal honour and corruption, opportunity and fatality.” —James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential “Hammett is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer.” —The Boston Globe

"The Dashiell Hammett Megapack" collects 20 early and rare stories by the famous mystery writer, plus one poem.  Including stories about the Continental Op and Sam Spade.ContentsAFRAID 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 MANNER

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.

This classic tale from Black Mask is the first appearance of ''The Continental Op'', a character who would eventually appear in 28 stories and two novels.

Two never-before published novellas featuring Nick & Nora Charles. Crime writer Dashiell Hammett elevated the genre to true literature, and The Thin Man was his last -- and most successful -- novel. Following the enormous success of the 1934 movie version, Hammett was commissioned to write stories for additional films. He wrote two full-length novellas, pulling his classic characters retired PI Nick Charles and his former debutante wife Nora back into a deadly -- and fully satisfying -- game of cat and mouse.ContentsAfter the Thin ManAnother Thin Man

The Assistant MurdererWho Killed Bob TealArson Plus

The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first to feature detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles, California and is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing one another and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a rumination in the final pages of the book about "sleeping the big sleep."

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Introducing the Continental Op—legendary hardboiled sleuth—in the first of seven short-story collections featuring Dashiell Hammett's infamous detective The house is soaked with gasoline, and it takes only a spark for it to be engulfed in flames. As the ruins smolder, the case-hardened operative from the Continental Detective Agency is the one person determined to untangle the tough questions: Who tossed the match and why? Was it an angry neighbor, a disgruntled servant, or the old man in the window who was seen giving one last look at the world before the fire consumed him? In the wreckage of the ruined house, the Continental Op will find that nothing burns hotter than greed. "Arson Plus" is the story that introduced the world to the Continental Op, the nameless detective whom Dashiell Hammett described as "a little man going forward day after day through mud and blood and death and deceit—as callous and brutal and cynical as...

The Continental Op delves into his violent past and avenges a murdered partner in this collection of stories from master of hardboiled fiction Dashiell Hammett When he joins the Continental Detective Agency, Bob Teal shows every sign of becoming a crack operative. Cool headed, quick witted, and not afraid to take a punch, Teal's on the verge of a great career when a .32 cuts him down. Two bullets are enough to kill Teal and to set the Continental Op chasing the tangled tale that lead to his demise. In "Who Killed Bob Teal?" Dashiell Hammett experimented with a premise that he would later repurpose in his most famous novel: The Maltese Falcon. But while Sam Spade is devilishly tough, the Continental Op is even tougher. And in this titular story, as well as "The Whosis Kid" and "The Scorched Face," the Op pursues Bay-area underworld operators with the deep wrath of a San Francisco earthquake.

The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first to feature detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles, California and is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing one another and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a rumination in the final pages of the book about "sleeping the big sleep."

The second volume of short stories featuring the adventures of crime fiction's most hardboiled sleuth: the Continental Op Dan Rathbone locks the bonds in the company safe, fully aware that $100,000 is a deadly temptation. He's about to embark on a business trip, and he tells his partner that he only wants to be sure the papers are safe. But when Rathbone goes missing, his partner discovers that the funds have vanished along with him. Has Rathbone skipped town with the bonds, or has he been murdered? The Continental Op will find out the truth—and in Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco, the truth is always a thorny proposition. The Continental Op cut a bloody swath across the pages of Black Mask, dealing cool reckoning to anyone who threatened him in his pursuit of the truth. In "It," "Bodies Piled Up," and "The Tenth Clew," the infamous Op dispenses his particular brand of two-fisted justice in the hardboiled style that made Dashiell...

SUMMARY: When Sam Spade gets drawn into the Maltese Falcon case, we know what to expect: straight talk, hard questions, no favors, and no way for anyone to get underneath the protective shell he wears like a second skin. We know that his late partner, Miles Archer, was a son of a bitch; that Spade is sleeping with Archer’s wife, Iva; that his tomboyish secretary, Effie Perine, is the only innocent in his life. What we don’t know is how Spade became who he is. Spade & Archer completes the picture.1921: Spade sets up his own agency in San Francisco and clients quickly start coming through the door. The next seven years will see him dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, stowaways, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, bumbling cops, and the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat-sen; with murder, other men’s mistresses, and long-missing money. He’ll bring in Archer as a partner, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. He’ll tangle with a villain who never loses his desire to make Spade pay big for ruining what should’ve been the perfect crime. And he’ll fall in love—though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames . . .Spade & Archer is a gritty, pitch-perfect, hard-boiled novel—the work of a master mystery writer—destined to become a classic in its own right.