num_pages: 414
description: Hammett's Continental Op - tough, tired, intelligent, a snap-brimmed Sir Galahad with a Browning - was the prototype for a whole new tradition of private eye thrillers.Here are ten of his classic suspense stories from the twenties and thirties - selected and introduced by Lillian Hellman.Dashiell Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means to hand, not with handwrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish. - Raymond ChandlerThe front cover shows a detail from First Reflection by Lisette Model.
language: English
title: The Big Knockover and Other Stories
titlecomplete: The Big Knockover and Other Stories
characters: Jack Counihan, Red O'Leary, The gorilla (The Big Knock-Over), Mickey Linehan, Dick Foley, Wop Healy, Percy Maguire, The Continental Op, The Old Man (The Continental Op), Beno the newsie, Lieutenant Duff, Paddy the Mex, Bluepoint Vance, Denny Burke, Big Flora, Jean Larrouy, Sylvia Yount, Fiske (Dead Yellow Women), Nellie Wade / Angel Grace Cardigan, The deceased (The Big Knock-Over), The Armenian (The Big Knock-Over), The little scared man, Nancy Regan
genres: Fiction, American, Short Stories, Mystery, Noir, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Classics, Hard Boiled, Crime
ratings_count: 3288
places: San Francisco, California
series: The Continental Op
publisher: Penguin Books Limited