Rating: 
Summary: Terrific Introduction to Hard-boiled Fiction & Hammett.
Review: "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".
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Introduction to Hard-boiled Fiction & Hammett.
Review: "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".
Rating:
Summary: Unheralded Classics
Review: 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. Written during the 1920s these tales are every bit as gritty as the Raymond Chandler short stories that would come a decade or two later. The Op is a fat unromantic type that knows how to solve crime with his head and his hands. He encounters people that we would best avoid and puts them away or does them in. Some of the stories are superior to the others, but every tale is worth the telling.
Rating:
Summary: Nameless, Faceless, and Definitely Hard Boiled
Review: Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op detective stories see the beginnings of the hard-boiled detective in American fiction. The nameless operative of the Continental Detective Agency that stars in all these stories is also faceless: All we know is that he's overweight. He's every bit as nasty as the later Sam Spade of THE MALTESE FALCON, and even approaches Jim Thompson's psychotically callous narrators. At one point, in "The Farewell Murder," his reaction to his client's grisly murder by slashed throat is an apparent nonchalance -- though he does nab the murderer in the end. Between 1930 and today, however, there was a change in colloquial American that makes Hammett's language seem slightly fusty and unidiomatic today. The following are taken from my favorite story of the bunch, "The Girl with the Silver Eyes." The larcenous Elvira, for example, "sizes up as a worker." Another woman thinks her brother is "a choice morsel." An odd prolixity appears in the sentence "This Porky was an effective tool if handled right, which meant keeping your hand on his throat all the time and checking up every piece of information he brought in." A writer today would be more elliptical, but then. of course, the genre was still in its infancy. Where Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is a knight of the mean streets, the Op is an anonymous survivor. His name won't appear in the newspaper, but he'll collar the perpetrators and see them executed or otherwise put out of action. When the evidence is lacking, as in "The Golden Horseshoe," he is content to have the criminal swing for a crime he did NOT commit. Better yet, in "The House on Turk Street," he will arrange for the hoods to kill each other and walk away unharmed. Even more than 75 years after they were written, these stories have something to tell us about ourselves today. Chandler was an Englishman; but Hammett was clearly a home-grown product of the streets. A former detective himself, he knew well the dark recesses of the American criminal mind, sometimes frighteningly so.
Rating:
Summary: Not just hardboiled
Review: During the years of radio drama, Dashell Hammett's Nick Charles and Sam Spade had their own weekly radio shows, and movie flings. But one series based on a Dashell Hammett character was puzzling: "The Fat Man". He was named J. Maxwell Smart, weighed 240 lb., and of course was one tough character. Yet, you'll never find him under that name in any Hammett story. The radio, tv, & movie character was, in fact, based on the nameless Continental Op. Truly, he is the most interesting of Hammett's series characters. He is tough, ethical according to his code, and keeps his true emotions buried under the toughness and the physical bulk. He is a cynic, one who assumes that each person involved is undoubtedly lying. On the occasions that a female character makes a play for him, he assumes that she has an angle. And he, in turn, formulates his own lies which have the effect of bringing out the truth. There are times that he is as surprised at the outcome as the reader is. Hammett is skillful in the way he keeps the op in character, and the reader needs to be alert to catch some of the subtleties such as a restrained sense of humor when the crooks trap themselves by thinking he's after them when he's completely unaware of what they've done; a buried feeling of remorse when a client is murdered because the op had the wrong assumption; a decision not to unnecessarily involve an erring wife who's resigned herself to having her infidelity revealed. These stories indeed have literary value while being engrossing crime stories. If you enjoy today's tough police detectives such as Harry Bosch, you will find these far earlier stories engrossing.
Rating:
Summary: Classics from the pulps...
Review: During the years of radio drama, Dashell Hammett's Nick Charles and Sam Spade had their own weekly radio shows, and movie flings. But one series based on a Dashell Hammett character was puzzling: "The Fat Man". He was named J. Maxwell Smart, weighed 240 lb., and of course was one tough character. Yet, you'll never find him under that name in any Hammett story. The radio, tv, & movie character was, in fact, based on the nameless Continental Op. Truly, he is the most interesting of Hammett's series characters. He is tough, ethical according to his code, and keeps his true emotions buried under the toughness and the physical bulk. He is a cynic, one who assumes that each person involved is undoubtedly lying. On the occasions that a female character makes a play for him, he assumes that she has an angle. And he, in turn, formulates his own lies which have the effect of bringing out the truth. There are times that he is as surprised at the outcome as the reader is. Hammett is skillful in the way he keeps the op in character, and the reader needs to be alert to catch some of the subtleties such as a restrained sense of humor when the crooks trap themselves by thinking he's after them when he's completely unaware of what they've done; a buried feeling of remorse when a client is murdered because the op had the wrong assumption; a decision not to unnecessarily involve an erring wife who's resigned herself to having her infidelity revealed. These stories indeed have literary value while being engrossing crime stories. If you enjoy today's tough police detectives such as Harry Bosch, you will find these far earlier stories engrossing.
Rating:
Summary: The detective you want working on YOUR case
Review: 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. 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.
Rating:
Summary: The detective you want working on YOUR case
Review: 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. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Spade
Review: 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 (Answer: 1, although there are three short stories) or who the "Thin Man" was (Nope, not William Powell - it was the concrete-cased corpse). Even fewer would look at you with anything less than a blank stare if you mentioned the Continental Op, the unnamed, smart, tough and slightly tragic hero of these stories. The Op shares many qualities with the intrepid Spade, but is different in one respect - his ability to work as part of an agency and report to the "old man". This alone makes him 180-degrees different from the ronin Spade. The stories found in this book are stunning pieces of literature. Although they are the foundation upon which the genre "hard-boiled" would be built, they are indeed literary masterpieces, without a wasted word. They are tough-guy poetry, without the flowery sentimentality of Raymond Chandler, who was to follow in Hammett's footsteps. What;s it all about? A coded telegram about a missing daughter...some sheets of dark grey paper hidden in a copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo"...the FOR HIRE flag on a taxi that was up when it should have been down...a newspaper story that appeared in only ONE COPY of ONE ISSUE...a spitted dog barbecuing over a fire...a voice which spoke from an orange tree... These things and more.
Rating:
Summary: Not just hardboiled
Review: 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. And they're long enough to get some development but short enough to finish in a normal sitting. It's fun.
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