Continental Op Stories

Dashiell Hammett

• Publisher: Caelwick Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785812236236
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Before there was Sam Spade , before there was Nick Charles, there was the unnamed operative in the Continental Detective Agency: the Continental Op . It was the Continental Op that, through a series of twenty-eight stories and two novels written in the mid to late 1920s, established Dashiel Hammett's reputation as one of the finest crime writers of the century. The Continental Op is of below-average height and above-average weight, but is willing and able to mix it up with whatever ruffians he encounters on his assignments. Those assignments often look benign at first, but turn sinister in a hurry. Although based in San Francisco, the Op's assignments take him all over California ("The Golden Horseshoe," "The Gutting of Couffignal"), to Arizona ("Corkscrew"), and even to the Balkans ("This King Business"). Where the Op excels is at listening to a client, witness, or perpetrator, and identifying the inconsistencies and holes in their statements—inconsistencies and holes that readers rarely notice until the Op points them out. The Continental Op stories, with two exceptions, originally appeared in Black Mask , the pulp magazine started in 1920 that also launched the careers of Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, and other legendary crime writers. Dashiell Hammett (died 1961) was a significant literary figure of the 20th century. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, Continental Op Stories exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Arson Plus
• Crooked Souls
• Slippery Fingers
• It
• Bodies Piled Up
• The Tenth Clue
• Night Shots
• Zigzags of Treachery
• One Hour
• The House in Turk Street
• The Girl with the Silver Eyes
• Women, Politics & Murder
• The Golden Horseshoe
• Who Killed Bob Teal?
• Mike or Alec or Rufus
• The Whosis Kid
• The Scorched Face
• Corkscrew
• Dead Yellow Women
• The Gutting of Couffignal
• Creeping Siamese
• The Big Knock-Over
• $106,000 Blood Money
• The Main Death
• This King Business
• Flypaper
• The Farewell Murder
• Death and Company