Detective Sam Spade is a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. When his partner is killed during a stakeout, he is drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure with a dubious provenance--a golden bird encrusted with jewels. Also on the trail are a perfumed grifter named Joel Cairo, an oversized adventurer named Gutman, and Spade's new client 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 generations of readers.

*With a new introduction by Richard Russo*

Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.

The Adventures of Sam Spade and other stories is a collection of seven short stories (three of them with Detective Sam Spade), written by American author of detective novels and short stories, screenwriter, and political activist Samuel Dashiell Hammett:

Contents: -Too many have lived -They can only hang you once -A man called Spade -The assistant murderer -Night shade -The judge laughed last -His brother's keeper

Hammett knew how to write stories. No messing about, just the facts. He recorded a dark world, where everyone was on the take, and towns were run in the interests of the criminally inclined. He allows that world to tell its own story, without any of the characters telling you what to think about it. Hammett here proves his mastery of the short story and novella form in hard-boiled detective fiction.

Nick Charles seems to find trouble wherever he goes. He thinks his sleuthing days are behind him when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, turns up dead. Nick--thanks to some persuasion from his enchanting wife, Nora--finds himself falling back into old habits and making a few polite inquiries. The prime suspect, Julia's lover and boss Clyde Miller Wynant, has vanished without a trace. Everyone is after him, but Nick is not so sure Wynant is the culprit. And when another dubious figure bursts into their bedroom, waving a loaded handgun, it seems Nick and Nora's adventure is only just beginning.

Nick and Nora Charles are among Dashiell Hammett's most alluring creations: a rich, glamourous 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.

The Maltese Falcon is a 1930 detective novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. The story is told entirely in external third-person narrative; there is no description whatsoever of any character's thoughts or feelings, only what they say and do, and how they look. The novel has been adapted several times for the cinema.

The main character, Sam Spade (who also appeared later in some lesser-known short stories), was a departure from Hammett's nameless detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, notably his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, unflinching and sometimes ruthless determination to achieve his own form of justice, and a complete lack of sentimentality.

In 1990 the novel ranked 10th in Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list by the Crime Writers' Association. Five years later, in a similar list by Mystery Writers of America, the novel was ranked third.

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 iconic, influential, and beloved The Maltese Falcon.

A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Special Edition

In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, hard-boiled detective Sam Spade is drawn into a web of greed, betrayal, and murder. As he hunts for a priceless artifact, danger lurks at every turn. A masterpiece of noir fiction, this gripping tale redefined the detective genre with its sharp wit and intrigue.

Dashiell Hammett is the father of modern hard-boiled detective stories. His legendary works have been lauded for almost one hundred years by fans, and his novel The Maltese Falcon was adapted into a classic film starring Humphrey Bogart. One of Dashiell Hammett's most memorable characters, the Continental Op made his debut in Black Mask magazine on October 1, 1923, narrating the first of twenty-eight stories and two novels that would change forever the face of detective fiction. The Op is a tough, wry, unglamorous gumshoe who has inspired a following that is both global and enduring. He has been published in periodicals, paperback digests, and short story collections, but until now, he has never, in all his ninety-two years, had the whole of his exploits contained in one book. The book features all twenty-eight of the original standalone Continental Op stories, the original serialized versions of Red Harvest and The Dain Curse, and previously unpublished material. This anthology of Continental Op stories is the only complete, one-volume work of its kind.

The Maltese Falcon is a 1930 detective novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. The story is told entirely in external third-person narrative; there is no description whatsoever of any character's thoughts or feelings, only what they say and do, and how they look. The novel has been adapted several times for the cinema.

The main character, Sam Spade (who also appeared later in some lesser-known short stories), was a departure from Hammett's nameless detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, notably his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, unflinching and sometimes ruthless determination to achieve his own form of justice, and a complete lack of sentimentality.

In 1990 the novel ranked 10th in Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list by the Crime Writers' Association. Five years later, in a similar list by Mystery Writers of America, the novel was ranked third.

Quite simply, Black Mask magazine is the most important Detective fiction magazine ever published, printing the most significant works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner, among others over its 20-year life. This facsimile of the September 1929 issue represents Black Mask at its peak with the first installment of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, along with stories by Erle Stanley Gardner, Horace McCoy, Frederick Nebel, and Raoul Whitfield.

Ned Beaumont is a gambler and a professional troubleshooter for his friend Paul Madvig, a cheerfully corrupt political power broker who aspires to greater things. Madvig has his eyes set on none other than the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. When the senator's son turns up dead, Madvig becomes the prime suspect. But if he is innocent, then which of his dozens of enemies is doing an awfully good job of framing him?

Dashiell Hammett's tour de force of crime fiction combines a bulletproof plot, authentically corrupt characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness.

Discover the genius of Dashiell Hammett, arguably the finest writer to grace the pages of Black Mask magazine. Now part of the authorized Black Mask Library, Hammett's groundbreaking Continental Op series defined the magazine's style and inspired countless authors. Volume 2 brings together the next six captivating stories of the Op, complete with an exclusive new introduction by Bob Byrne. Dive into the thrilling world of classic noir with this essential collection.

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.

Quite possibly the greatest author to appear in the pages of Black Mask magazine-Dashiell Hammett-is finally included in the authorized Black Mask Library. Hammett's influential Continental Op series set the editorial tone for Black Mask and all of the authors who would follow Hammett in that magazine. This Volume 1 collects the first ten stories of the Op, including the first two installments bylined as Peter Collinson, along with an all-new introduction by Bob Byrne.

When eight diamonds are stolen from a prominent San Francisco family, the Continental Op is called in to investigate. But the missing jewels aren't the only thing out of the ordinary. The man who reported the burglary ends up dead, ostensibly a suicide. His daughter, one of the suspects, Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett, has a penchant for morphine and religious cults. She also has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying. Might Gabrielle be the victim of an arcane family curse? Or is the truth about her stranger and even more dangerous?

The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op's most bizarre cases and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.

Hans Hillmann (1925-2014) was a German graphic illustrator and teacher, widely known for the 130 movie posters he designed between 1953 and 1974 that accompanied the release in Germany of many of the most important postwar films by internationally celebrated directors such as Buñuel, Bergman, Eisenstein, Huston, Hitchcock, and Godard. In 1974, Hillmann became obsessed with the idea of making a film on paper based on Hammett's story about a wealthy young girl who runs away from her family to live the hard and fast life, and the Continental Detective Agency operative who's hired to find her. That project would consume seven years of his life would include traveling to the United States, photographing and drawing many of the locations and neighborhoods in San Francisco that Hammett frequented. The result is this extraordinary book: the realistically rendered surfaces of the interiors and streetscapes only a thin facade on the distorting and menacing shadows and phantasmagoric motifs that brilliantly evoke the psychological and emotional undercurrents of Hammett's story.

INTRODUCTION BY ART SPIEGELMAN
PART OF THE PANTHEON GRAPHIC LIBRARY

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 let go of a seemingly trivial case, and the collection also includes an unfinished Sam Spade story and two full-length screen treatments: On the Make, about a corrupt detective, and The Kiss-Off, the basis for City Streets (1931), in which Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sydney are caught in a romance complicated by racketeering's obligations and temptations. Rich in both story and character, this is a volume no Hammett fan should do without.