Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continetal Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. In these stories the Op unravels a murder with too many clues, looks for a girl with eyes the color of shadows on polished silver, and tangles with a crooked-eared gunman called the Whosis Kid.
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'...the Continental Op features in seven superb stories in this collection. Please, dear reader, I beg you, buy this book and treat yourself to the work of a true master of the crime genre.' -- Vincent Banville IRISH TIMES 'Orion's magnificent Crime Masterworks series ...has collected seven of the finest Continental Op short stories in a single volume... It is a magnificent collection, marking year zero in the hard-boiled school of crime fiction... Hugely recommended.' BURTON EVENING MAIL 'Some of the best examples of Hammett's work, painting a bleak picture of an American society warped by brutality, greed and treachery.' WESTERN DAILY PRESS
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. Mary’s County. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter—messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work. He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Glass Key (1931) are among his most successful novels. During World War II, Hammett again served as sergeant in the Army, this time for more than two years, most of which he spent in the Aleutians. Hammett’s later life was marked in part by ill health, alcoholism, a period of imprisonment related to his alleged membership in the Communist Party, and by his long-time companion, the author Lillian Hellman, with whom he had a very volatile relationship. His attempt at autobiographical fiction survives in the story “Tulip,” which is contained in the posthumous collection The Big Knockover (1966, edited by Lillian Hellman). Another volume of his stories, The Continental Op (1974, edited by Stephen Marcus), introduced the final Hammett character: the “Op,” a nameless detective (or “operative”) who displays little of his personality, making him a classic tough guy in the hard-boiled mold—a bit like Hammett himself.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By mirasreviews
Format:Paperback
"The Continental Op" contains seven short stories featuring Dashiell Hammett's terse, sharp-witted, and always unnamed operative from The Continental Detective Agency. "Black Mask" magazine published 36 Continental Op stories by Dashiell Hammett between 1923 and 1930 (eight which were later transformed into novels), so this is just a smattering. These stories are not as thematically complex as many of Hammett's novels, but the Op's first person narration renders the characters especially vividly. And his sardonic internal monologues sting like a branding iron, and leave about as strong an impression. Though Hammett's scathing cynicism is better articulated in his novels, "The Continental Op" is an excellent showcase of the elements which have made Hammett's work so popular for over eighty years: blunt talk, economic and very readable prose, femmes fatales, contemptible but colorful criminals, violence, mystery, and a decidedly unglamorous "everyman" protagonist who lives by his own strict code of conduct.
Unlike Hammett's novels, this collection of short stories includes an introduction by the book's editor, Steven Marcus. It won't be news to readers who are familiar with Dashiell Hammett's life and works, but readers who are new to Hammett may find the progression of Hammett's career, personal life and politics, discussed in Marcus' essay, interesting and helpful in placing his work in context. "The Continental Op" is an excellent introduction to the writing of Dashiell Hammett, similar to the manner in which the American public discovered his works in "Black Mask" during the 1920s. And if you're already a Hammett fan, these wonderfully entertaining stories are not to be missed.
Note: An entirely different anthology of Dashiell Hammett short stories, edited by Ellery Queen, was published under the same name, "The Continental Op", in 1945. It contained 4 stories, 3 of which are not in the current Vintage Books edition. I mention it so there will be no confusion. This Vintage Books edition, edited by Steven Marcus, was originally published in 1979 and contains these 7 stories: "The Tenth Clew", "The Golden Horseshoe", "The House in Turk Street", "The Girl with the Silver Eyes", "The Whosis Kid", "The Main Death", and "The Farewell Murder".
By Michael G.
Format:Paperback
In my humble opinion, the key to Dashiell Hammett's greatness is found in his unique writing style. His sentences flow across the page. Their words sing out to you. Many imitators have come and gone but none have matched his smooth yet jarring prose. The Continental Op, edited by Steven Marcus, is a collection of seven short stories all featuring the title character. As you know, the Continental Op is that nameless San Francisco detective whose personal life away from the job, if indeed he has one, remains the greatest mystery of all. All the stories contained in this volume are first rate. They all drip with delicious descriptions of greed, deception and betrayal. They are all skillfully constructed to maximize suspense and reader interest. The first time around, you'll want to read slowly so as to savor each phrase, while at the same time you'll want to hurry up and get to the end to find out what happens. Read this book. You will not be disappointed. No other collection of short stories has ever packed more of a wallop.
By jimnypivo
Format:Paperback
For a man who actively wrote for only a short period of time, it's amazing Dashiel Hammet has such a high percentage of quality stuff. "The Thin Man", "The Glass Key", "The Maltese Falcon" all defined the modern detective story and the image of the modern detective. Guys like Sam Spade and Nick Charles--always clever, sometimes handsome and tough, never-say-die, except to opposing bad guys.
So I was intrigued by the Op character when I ran across him in "Nightmare Town", another collection of Hammett stories, I pursued more.
So I was intrigued by the Op character when I ran across him in "Nightmare Town", another collection of Hammett stories, I pursued more.
The Op is based on Hammett's own experience working as an agency detective with parts of other real-life colleagues thrown in. He's middle-aged, short, overweight, has thinning hair, and is always cautious (for good reason). He has a workmanlike approach to his job, focuses on the facts, and avoids entanglements with dames. He takes pride in a job well-done, and has an appropriately-placed sense of right, wrong and how justice should be served.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Op' stories, even though their setting is the America of seventy or eighty years ago and the jargon is sometimes obscure. The plots are good, characters believable, and the protagonist is a likable, clever, and tough detective.
Some of Hammett's best writing is within these pages. All you detective story fans-if you haven't read it, pick this one up for sure.
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4.6 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a good as The Thin Man - but good!
So I absolutely ADORE the Thin Man movies, and liked the novel The Thin Man - so I had to read more of Hammett's work. Read more
Published on Oct 24 2003 by Karie Hoskins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just hardboiled
I never knew that Hammett could be beyond hardboiled and noir. These stories have O'Henry like twists to them and some really funny prose. Read more
Published on July 2 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classics from the pulps...
During the years of radio drama, Dashell Hammett's Nick Charles and Sam Spade had their own weekly radio shows, and movie flings. Read more
Published on July 11 2002 by Neal C. Reynolds
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Fun
This is the first Dashiell Hammett book I've read. It's actually a collection of short stories revolving around the exploits of the Continental Op, a nameless private dick who... Read more
Published on Jan 14 2002 by Jeffrey Leach
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original "Man with No Name"
Overweight, cynical, and rawhide tough, this nondescript, nameless operative for the Continental Detective Agency slugs and schemes his way through a series of entertaining... Read more
Published on Sep 25 2001 by George R Dekle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nameless, Faceless, and Definitely Hard Boiled
Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op detective stories see the beginnings of the hard-boiled detective in American fiction. Read more
Published on Sep 18 2001 by James Paris
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Stories About the Hard-Boiled Detective
This collection of stories entertains, and also educates on some of the techniques used in detective work. Read more
Published on Aug 23 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Spade
I am astonished at the ignorance of most people about thewriting of Dashiell Hammett. Few people, if asked, could tell you thenumber of novels he wrote featuring Sam Spade... Read more
Published on July 27 2000 by Patrick Burnett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unheralded Classics
After reading the Maltese Falcon 5 times and getting over the fact that Hammett didn't write 10 more Sam Spade novels I picked up the Continental Op. Read more
Published on May 21 2000 by Thomas Stamper
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best that Hammett ever wrote
While in graduate school at Yale, I actually went to the Beinecke Rare Book Library and read several special issues of BLACK MASK MAGAZINE published in the late 1940s that... Read more
Published on Sep 20 1999 by Robert Moore
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