Red Harvest (1927) is a set of four linked stories telling a tale of corruption and violence in a Montana mining town. The four separate tales each contains its own puzzle plot, all of which come to its own solution. The stories were later linked and put into book form. The linked story formula has the advantage over the novel of being able to squeeze more plots into one book.
The story is classic 'Op'. Law and order have broken down and the Op is called in to try and restore some kind of order to the chaos. As is so often the case, he appears to be allied with one criminal faction and then with another, in his familiar role of ' stirring things up'. A rather violent tale in which the bodies pile up faster than you can count, Red Harvest paints a picture of a community bathed in blood and violence, some of which naturally attaches to our hero. He finds himself almost enjoying all the mayhem going on around him, and he has to get a firm grip on his own violent nature.
In several of his stories Hammett paints a picture of a world where the rule of law has broken down. When the cheap, civilized veneer is stripped away from a society, the Op is called upon to use his wits and his own moral code to try and establish order.
The Dain Curse
Another of Hammett's linked story novels, this one takes place in California, centered around a young girl who believes herself to be the victim of a family curse. What the curse really consists of, untangling the various puzzles involved, and doing battle with a strange "religious' cult are the jobs the Op sets out on. No sooner does he solve one mystery, than another one pops up to take it's place. The murders do tend to pile up again, but not on the wholesale scale of Red Harvest. Fewer characters to contend with also means more detailed character development than 'Harvest'. The four parts once again hold up quite well in their own rights, with the first two perhaps stronger than the last pair.
This is the other main kind of Op tale, in which our hero is confronted by an elaborately fabricated web of deception and mis-information. Instead of having to shoot it out, he must probe the stories of those involved, picking up pieces of the truth and trying to assemble them like a jigsaw puzzle.
Short StoriesThe Big Knockover - Selected Short Stories
The Gatewood Caper (1923)
Harvey Gatewood's charming daughter has been kidnapped and the Op is called in to assist with the investigation. Both the Op and the police are in the dark, until a little brainwork and routine legwork by the Op point to the correct solution. The Op almost gets blown away, except he knows enough not to stand in front of a strange door after knocking.
The Scorched Face (1925)
This time it's two daughters that have disappeared, and the Op teams up with policeman Pat Reddy. A sudden suicide of a woman he questions eventually leads the Op and Reddy to a strange house used as the base of a sex and blackmail ring. The Op manages to save one daughter, but not before the accidental death of the her sister.
Corkscrew (1925)
Classic Op in a tale of the lawless west. The Op is hired by the good citizens of Corkscrew to weed out the less desirable elements. Working his usual 'stir the pot' routine, the Op soon has the bodies of the baddies stacked like cordwood. He's the new Sherriff, partner, so you'd better get out of town if you want to keep breathin'.
The Big Knockover (1927)
Another society breaking down theme, only this time the crooks wipe out a whole city block of banks in what could only be described as a military operation. Wholesale slaughter among the ranks soon eliminates most of the suspects, including such colourful characters as Paddy the Mex, Bluepoint Vance, The Dis-n-Dat Kid, Toby the lugs and Snohomish Shitey. Finding the mastermind behind this caper is going to take all the Ops' detective skills.
$106,000 Blood Money (1927)
The sequel to The Big Knockover, $106,000 Blood Money shows Hammett's first attempt at the linked story novel form. The suvivors and secondary characters take over the second part as the Op searches for the mastermind who slipped away from him in the first story. Of the two parts, this is by far the weakest, although Hammett throws in a great twist at the end.
This King Business (1927)
The Op travels to a mythical European country to try and find a young, naive American millionaire who may be getting more of a European education than he bargained for. As usual, the Op must ally himself with various scoundrels and play both ends against the middle, this time without speaking the language. How he manages to get the young man crowned king, and then get him out of the country alive with all his money, makes a nice change of pace for the Op, who seems to thrive on the intrigue going on around him.
The Gutting of Couffignal (1927?)
Guarding the presents at a wedding on an exclusive island should be a snap for the Op. Unfortunately a gang of crooks decide to sack the town and naturally the Op has to get involved. A White Russian princess and her household, machine guns and hand grenades are some of the fun things waiting for him. The Op ends ups shooting an unarmed woman, but you still got to love the guy. After all, he's only doing his job. Another of the breakdown of law and order tales.
Fly Paper (1929)
Finding missing daughters seems to be a popular passtime for our hero. The daughter in question has got herself hooked up with a pretty tough hombre, and when the Op finally finds her, she's dead. The Op finds himself trying to unravel the mystery of the flypaper down behind the stove, and who fed arsenic to the beautiful heiress.
Dead Yellow Women (192?)
When a beautiful Chinese woman comes to Continental to investigate the murders of two of her servants, the Op starts digging up the dirt in Chinatown. Called 'The Prince of Hunters' by his Chinese adversary, the Op must outwit a master criminal in the strange seedy underworld of Chinatown.
The Continental Op - Selected Short Stories
The Tenth Clue (1924)
A man beaten to death with a typewriter and a dip in the Bay are two of the things the Op contends with in this story. With everyone hiding behind a wall of lies that prove too tough to crack, the Op has to have a bit of old-fashioned luck to solve this one. You just know he's going to find some!
The Golden Horseshoe (1924)
Hired by an English woman to try to find her missing hubby, the Op ends up on a three day drunk with the man in Tijuana. Everything seems to be going great until the wife is discovered dead along with two servants back in Frisco. It's a cinch the husband didn't do it, but it's great fun to see how the Op manages to have him hung anyway!
The House on Turk Street (1924)
While searching for a missing young man, the Op finds himself mixing it up with a gang of robbers and killers, entirely by accident. The oriental head of the bunch, along with a beautiful silver-eyed girl, give the OP some exciting moments right up until the end. Only after he winds up the caper does the Op find out what it was all about, but the girl slips out of his grasp, only to return in...
The Girl With the Silver Eyes (1924)
The Op didn't know what to make of the strange poet who wanted to find his lost girlfriend. After following a trail that led nowhere, the Op ends up looking for the poet as well. Following a lead to a seedy roadhouse, our hero finds the poet dead, and the girlfriend's not talking. With a little 'stirring of the pot' on the part of the Op, who has recognised the girlfriend as none other than the one that got away from 'Turk Street', the story ends with a wild chase and shootout. The girl offers the Op'anything' to give her a break, but the Op's moral code demands that she ends up in the clink where she belongs.
The Whosis Kid (1925)
A great tale of double and triple cross, as the Op happens upon a young thug and tails him home for something to do. It turns out he has a lot to do, as more members of the gang appear, each intent on keeping the loot from a recent robbery. The Op sort of drifts along, letting the falling out of theives take it's natural course, confident that in the end he'll still be alive to pick up the pieces.
The Main Death (1927)
The assistant of a dealer in valuable antiquities is murdered and robbed of the proceeds of a valuable sale. The finger of suspicion points at the dealer's beautiful, young wife. Then again, the wife of the murdered man may have something to do with it. With her the nearest thing to a witness, the Op has to decide what really happened, and when. Again following his own strict code, the Op sorts it all out in the end.
The Farewell Murder (1930)
A shady war-trader calls in the Op to prevent an old victim from exacting his revenge? Or does he? Or is he? Or will they? An intricate puzzle where every 'fact' the Op learns is just another red-herring, the 'Farewell Murder' tests his talent for sifting out the truth to the limits.
Nightmare Town - Selected Short Stories
House Dick (1923)
Gangland vengence gone wrong and three bodies in the closet confront the Op in this one. The Op fills in while the Montgomery Hotel finds a new house dick, and gets more excitement than he expected.
Night Shots (1924)
Someone is taking pot-shots at Talbert Exon as he lies in his bed recovering from a serious illness. Is his son-in-law trying to hurry his demise so he can run off with the nurse? Is the nurse all she seems to be? Whoever it is, the Op sets out to get to the heart of the matter.
Zigzags of Treachery (1924)
Death on Pine Street (1924)
Tom, Dick or Harry (1925)
One Hour (1924)
Who Killed Bob Teal (1924)