Complete novels
Subtitle: Red harvest ; The Dain curse ; The Maltese falcon ; The glass key ; The thin man
By: Dashiell Hammett
Series: Library of America -- 110
Publisher: Literary Classics of the United States; Distributed by Penguin Books; Literary Classics of the United States Inc.
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 967
ISBN-13: 9781883011673
Subjects: Private investigators; American Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
Other titles: Red harvest.; The Dain curse.; The Maltese falcon.; The glass key.; The thin man.
Work titles: Novels
Description: "In a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel."--BOOK JACKET. "The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing."--BOOK JACKET.

"Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929), a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town, epitomizes the violence and momentum of Hammett's Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op. The Op returns, in The Dain Curse (1929), to preside over a more ornately melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a mysterious religious cult.

With The Maltese Falcon (1930), and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success. A tightly constructed quest story with an unforgettable cast of eccentric adventures, it is at the same time shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny."--BOOK JACKET. "The Glass Key (1931), an exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous, traces intricate patterns of loyalty and betrayal in scenes charged with drama."--BOOK JACKET.

"His last novel, The Thin Man (1934), is a ruefully comic tale that pays homage to the traditional mystery form. It is best remembered for its protagonists Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Also issued online.
Table of contents: title: Red harvest --; title: The Dain curse --; title: The Maltese falcon --; title: The glass key --; title: The thin man.