The Big Knockover and Other Stories

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 Chandler The front cover shows a detail from First Reflection by Lisette Model.