Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Porvoo : Hki : Juva : WSOY, 1994.
Description
'Not just the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best' THE TIMES Dashiell Hammett is the true inventor of modern detective fiction and the creator of the private eye, the isolated hero in a world where treachery is the norm. The Continental Op was his great first contribution to the genre and these seven stories, which first appeared in the magazine Black Mask, are the best examples of Hammett's early writing, in which his formidable literary and moral imagination is already operating at full strength. The Continental Op is the dispassionate fat man working for the Continental Detective Agency, modelled on the Pinkerton Agency, whose only interest is in doing his job in a world of violence, passion, desperate action and great excitement.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Vesper1931
1 - The Tenth Clew - Mr Leopold Gantvoort had arranged a meeting with the Continental Op for 9.00pm at his home. The Op arrives on time, but Mr Gantvoort fails to appear, after waiting several hours and just as he was leaving a call to house informs his son Charles that his father is dead. But why
2 - The Golden Horseshoe - Attorney Vance Richmond wants him to find missing Englishman Norman Ashcraft for wealthy Mrs Ashcraft
3 - The House in Turk Street - While looking for a man in Turk Street, what does the Continental Op stumble into.
4 - The Girl with the Silver Eyes - The Continental Op is called out of bed one Sunday morning to visit a Burke Pangburn. He states, eventually, that his fiancee Jeanne Delano is missing. Of course the case is not as straightforward as it at first seems.
5 - The Whosis Kid - after the kid is pointed out to him in 1917 as a suspected gunman, it is not until 1925 that he sees him again. The Continental Op decides to follow him. He's known as Arthur Cory or Carey. And follows him into a lot of trouble.
6 - The Main Death - Continental Op is employed by a Bruno Gungen to discover who killed his associate Jeffrey Main and robbed him of Gungen's $20,000.
7 - The Farewell Murder - He is hired by a Mr Kavalov because Hugh Sherry has threatened that he will die.
An enjoyable re-read of a collection of short mystery stories
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are there so many clues. The Continental Op and Detective O'Gar investigate.2 - The Golden Horseshoe - Attorney Vance Richmond wants him to find missing Englishman Norman Ashcraft for wealthy Mrs Ashcraft
3 - The House in Turk Street - While looking for a man in Turk Street, what does the Continental Op stumble into.
4 - The Girl with the Silver Eyes - The Continental Op is called out of bed one Sunday morning to visit a Burke Pangburn. He states, eventually, that his fiancee Jeanne Delano is missing. Of course the case is not as straightforward as it at first seems.
5 - The Whosis Kid - after the kid is pointed out to him in 1917 as a suspected gunman, it is not until 1925 that he sees him again. The Continental Op decides to follow him. He's known as Arthur Cory or Carey. And follows him into a lot of trouble.
6 - The Main Death - Continental Op is employed by a Bruno Gungen to discover who killed his associate Jeffrey Main and robbed him of Gungen's $20,000.
7 - The Farewell Murder - He is hired by a Mr Kavalov because Hugh Sherry has threatened that he will die.
An enjoyable re-read of a collection of short mystery stories
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LibraryThing member jameshold
Quite simply the best thing Hammett ever did. A great character who is not a thug (like Sam Spade) or an alcoholic (like Nick and Nora) but a fellow who does his job as best he can without pretending to be something he's not. DH's prose style was at its best her: clipped, terse, concise, telling
Read this one...and toss the others out.
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you everything you need to know and not a bit more.Read this one...and toss the others out.
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LibraryThing member BruderBane
The beginnings of the hard-boiled detective novels for Dashiell Hammett come with The Continental Op. This anthology of Hammett’s early work is an interesting foundation and engrossing, especially when you consider that it was written back in the 20’s. Many of our movie stereotypes are here but
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told with a zest, zeal and an unmatched pithiness I find refreshing. There’s also lots of cool violence. I especially enjoyed The House on Turk Street and its follow-up The Girl with the Silver Eyes. More Hammett novels are definitely in my future. Show Less
LibraryThing member benmartin79
I was a little disappointed with this collection of stories. Part of the problem was I had grand - and unfair - expectations after reading The Maltese Falcon a while ago. This is not The Maltese Falcon. Part of the appeal of that book is the character of Sam Spade; the Continental Op is not nearly
Having said all of this, the writing's still alright, and as far as detective and mystery fiction goes, this isn't bad stuff. The procedural aspect comes out a little, and that adds some interest. And it's entertaining enough, though I wouldn't say it's always a page turner; I often found myself walking away in the middle of a story and coming back to it later. Worth reading for fans of the genre, I guess.
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as interesting. In fact, he's not really very interesting at all. The other appeal was the terse, almost cinematic style. Here the shift to first person removes much of the elegance of the writing. It still shows efficiency, but it's just not as appealing. On the upside, we get the Continental Op's explanation of his actions, but those aren't often all that interesting. One thing The Maltese Falcon and The Continental Op unfortunately share with each other, and a large portion of detective and mystery fiction, is the sometimes convoluted scenarios the heroes find themselves in and some of the over-the-top criminals. There are femmes fatales here in abundance, and they are sometimes interesting, but they feel a little cliche after a while. The action scenes, of which there are many more than there were in The Maltese Falcon, are sometimes well drawn but sometimes a little incredible. And one wonders how a character like the Continental Op could be involved in so many shootouts with so few injuries and so little attention from the police. Just in this anthology alone he witnesses or participates in the killing of more people than I can count on both hands - seriously.Having said all of this, the writing's still alright, and as far as detective and mystery fiction goes, this isn't bad stuff. The procedural aspect comes out a little, and that adds some interest. And it's entertaining enough, though I wouldn't say it's always a page turner; I often found myself walking away in the middle of a story and coming back to it later. Worth reading for fans of the genre, I guess.
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LibraryThing member simondyda
Superb collection of short stories by Hammett, centred around the San Francisco of the 1920s. Hammett's style of writing, the witty cynicism of the Continental Op, the wonderful little detective details garnered from the author's own experience as a Pinkerton agent, and the contemporary references
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to 1920s California all conspire to really bring these stories to life. Show Less
LibraryThing member ostrom
The Op is no doubt a more true-to-life private detective than Hammett's other two detectives. He works for a large company, and he just grinds it out on cases.
LibraryThing member IllanoyGal
A collection of Hammett's stories about the Continental Op who is the antithesis of the Thin Man. Nevertheless, while the bodies pile up, the Op manages to solve the crimes and catch the murderer. Good read all around.
LibraryThing member alexrichman
Hammett's detective with no name is, for me, more compelling than his three most famous creations, Nick and Nora Charles and Sam Spade. This short story collection is even better than Red Harvest, with tight, taut tales often finishing with brutal brilliance. To read one detective story with that
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sort of conclusion would be satisfying, but to read half a dozen is a treat. Show Less
LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
Seven continental ops stories. Hammett is a master writer. Having read Hammett and Chandler back to back, Hammett is by far the more descriptive, hard hitting writer. Great stories.
LibraryThing member polywogg
BOTTOM-LINE:
Pretty pulpy.
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
A collection of short stories.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Stories include 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.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Not well-developed and
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I was not personal friends with the author, nor did I follow him on social media.
Pretty pulpy.
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
A collection of short stories.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Stories include 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.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Not well-developed and
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kind of campy..
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I was not personal friends with the author, nor did I follow him on social media.
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LibraryThing member StaticBlaq
If I could, this book would get a solid 3 and a half stars.
After thoroughly enjoying Hammett's longer works, it was good to read his Black Mask error short stories from the 1920s to see the development and early history of the writing. Hammett was the guy who started the hardboiled detective
In current times, the Urban Fantasy genre draws heavily on the conventions and style of Hammett and Chandler, but these modern writings are just pale imitations. Both Hammett's and Chandler's works are well worth seeking out by modern readers as both the original masters of the hardboiled detective noir, and still the best.
After thoroughly enjoying Hammett's longer works, it was good to read his Black Mask error short stories from the 1920s to see the development and early history of the writing. Hammett was the guy who started the hardboiled detective
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fiction genre. The writing in these short works is solid albeit the developing story conventions rapidly become very formulaic and are generally not as strong as the longer works.In current times, the Urban Fantasy genre draws heavily on the conventions and style of Hammett and Chandler, but these modern writings are just pale imitations. Both Hammett's and Chandler's works are well worth seeking out by modern readers as both the original masters of the hardboiled detective noir, and still the best.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
Probably my person favorites of Hammett's stories, mostly short no-nonsense cases handled very professionally by the Continental Op, a short fat unglamorous detective (definitely not Sam Spade, much less Philip Marlowe). However on a recent re-reading, I did catch an error in the ending of "The
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Tenth Clew" --it says the victim's girlfriend Creda Dexter (Ives) was comfortable on her 3/4 of a million dollars, though earlier it was established that the victim's will in her favor had never been signed. When you hink about it, it is also odd that she would have intended to try a badger game on a wealthy retired bachelor --he had no wife or boss to fear, so why would he have paid up? Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
(Original review, 1981-03-01)
Hammett made no secret of Hammett’s wider (I suppose "wider" will do) literary ambitions, or that he earned his living writing a particular kind of story long after he'd have preferred to write something else. What I don't know is how and especially when he picked up
I suspect that he was first exposed to contemporary American fiction, the writing of his professional peers: that, for instance, he read Dos Passos before he got deep into Milton (if he ever did), that he was au courant with culturally dominant ideas about Realism, that he knew what Hemingway was doing and what Hemingway (and others - Lord, were there others...) said about what Hemingway was doing - and how well he was paid for doing it. But I don't know these things, I only think them likely.
I also know that deep myths and archetypes are sometimes invoked by authors who have never heard them explicitly discussed (which is why archetypes are archetypes, after all). I know that it isn't pointless to discuss Hammett as though he knew all about medieval mysteries and Satan's rebellion, and its Promethean antecedents whether he did or not. But my curiosity isn't wired that way: I'm more interested in what he thought he was doing, and I'm much, much more interested in his actual work.
Too many hyper-interpretive schools of criticism have risen and fallen since I left school to make me regret my ignorance of them very much, and if I'm careful I may never let it slip that I still think Pater, Pound and Empson - and Poe too for that matter - had the last word about how to read a book.
“The Continental Op” is not quintessential Hammett, but it’s still pretty good.
Hammett made no secret of Hammett’s wider (I suppose "wider" will do) literary ambitions, or that he earned his living writing a particular kind of story long after he'd have preferred to write something else. What I don't know is how and especially when he picked up
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his knowledge of literature. If ever there was an autodidact, it was Hammett. He left school at fourteen and set out on an amazingly varied series of jobs. Somewhere in the course of these he learned to write. I've said before that I suspect it was by writing his reports for Pinkerton's - for someone with his talent that would have been enough to turn out the early Op stories. At some (probably) later time, his reading and his artistic ambitions expanded - before he met Hellman? Hanging around with her crowd? I have no idea, except that I'm sure that it happened and that it didn't happen all at once.I suspect that he was first exposed to contemporary American fiction, the writing of his professional peers: that, for instance, he read Dos Passos before he got deep into Milton (if he ever did), that he was au courant with culturally dominant ideas about Realism, that he knew what Hemingway was doing and what Hemingway (and others - Lord, were there others...) said about what Hemingway was doing - and how well he was paid for doing it. But I don't know these things, I only think them likely.
I also know that deep myths and archetypes are sometimes invoked by authors who have never heard them explicitly discussed (which is why archetypes are archetypes, after all). I know that it isn't pointless to discuss Hammett as though he knew all about medieval mysteries and Satan's rebellion, and its Promethean antecedents whether he did or not. But my curiosity isn't wired that way: I'm more interested in what he thought he was doing, and I'm much, much more interested in his actual work.
Too many hyper-interpretive schools of criticism have risen and fallen since I left school to make me regret my ignorance of them very much, and if I'm careful I may never let it slip that I still think Pater, Pound and Empson - and Poe too for that matter - had the last word about how to read a book.
“The Continental Op” is not quintessential Hammett, but it’s still pretty good.
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LibraryThing member raizel
There are seven stories:
The Tenth Clew, The Golden Horseshoe, The House on Turk Street, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, The Whosis Kid, The Main Death, and The Farewell Murder.
Each story stands alone, but characters may show up in more than one story.
The writing is very much like the cinema noir
Steven Marcus' introduction gives a brief history of Dashiell Hammett followed by an analysis of his work. Marcusspends a lot of time looking at the story---a parable---that Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the novel, The Maltese Falcon, although not in the movie version). His interpretation is that "despite everything we have learned and everything we know, men will persist in behaving and trying to behave sanely, nationally, sensibly, and responsibly. And we will continue to persist even when we know that there is no logical or metaphysical, ( no discoverable or demonstrable reason for doing so." [p. xviii]
The Tenth Clew, The Golden Horseshoe, The House on Turk Street, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, The Whosis Kid, The Main Death, and The Farewell Murder.
Each story stands alone, but characters may show up in more than one story.
The writing is very much like the cinema noir
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style of the late '30s and early '40s. I'm still trying to figure out how to simplify "I am neither young enough nor old enough to get feverish over every woman who doesn't make me think being blind isn't so bad." [p. 205, "The Whosis Kid"]Steven Marcus' introduction gives a brief history of Dashiell Hammett followed by an analysis of his work. Marcusspends a lot of time looking at the story---a parable---that Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the novel, The Maltese Falcon, although not in the movie version). His interpretation is that "despite everything we have learned and everything we know, men will persist in behaving and trying to behave sanely, nationally, sensibly, and responsibly. And we will continue to persist even when we know that there is no logical or metaphysical, ( no discoverable or demonstrable reason for doing so." [p. xviii]
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LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
Devious dames, ham-fisted mugs with guns to boot, and intrigue and double crossings to make your head spin! Yep, the Continental Op has all this and more! And as he chases leads and bad guys and gals through the streets of San Francisco, we get 7 adventures to tag along! I liked "The Whosis Kid"
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the most, and "The Farewell Murder" the least. But, the Op is the Op, and I am a big fan! Show Less
LibraryThing member MarquesadeFlambe
The first Hammett I ever read. Some of his best stories, about his greatest creation.
LibraryThing member dresdon
This book contains a number of short detective stories, all involving the Continental Op. (You never learn his real name.) The stories are fast reads, and they are all well-written. Each captivates your interest, often with interesting twists at the end. I highly recommend this book!
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1945
Physical description
347 p.; 18 cm
ISBN
9510135887 / 9789510135884