Dashiell Hammett

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Red Harvest

The adventures of the Continental Op, intrepid insurance investigator, continue! When the last honest citizen of Poisonville is murdered, the Continental Op stays on to punish the guilty—even if it means taking on an entire town.

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The Dain Curse

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.

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The Thin Man

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. Lots of martinis. The Thin Man is a classic murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

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The Maltese Falcon

Sam Spade is the crystallizing figure in the development of the hard-boiled private detective genre, notably for his cold detachment, complete lack of sentimentality, keen eye for detail, and unflinching, sometimes ruthless determination to achieve his own form of justice.

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1. Jim Tarr picked up the cigar I rolled across his desk…
2. We found the Coonses in their room at the hotel on I Street…
3. He told us that the Coonses had come into his office on June second…
4. After luncheon, McClump and I called on Howard Henderson — the man who had seen the fire while driving home from Wayton…
5. An enterprising incendiary couldn’t have found a lovelier spot in which to turn himself loose…
6. Tavender turned out to be a crossroads settlement of a general store and post office…
7. From Tavender we drove over to Wayton…
8. Next morning, at the address McClump had given me — a rather elaborate apartment building on California Street — I had to wait three-quarters of an hour for Mrs…
9. From Mrs…
10. The reply to my Seattle telegram was waiting for me at the Continental Detective Agency when I arrived…
11. It was O’Hara from police headquarters…
12. McClump and I held a conference on the fly…
13. “Because he was — Thornburgh…