by Sun Meilan

Created on: July 19, 2008

Best-known for his novel The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett is one of the godfathers of hardboiled crime. Perhaps because of everyone's high opinion of The Maltese Falcon, I was surprised to be rather disappointed by it, feeling that it was overly complicated. So I wasn't particularly inspired to read anything else by himuntil I managed to pick this book up in a charity shop for just a few pence (I couldn't turn down something by a classic author at that price!). I didn't at first realise that it was a collection of short stories; in fact it was only when I started reading the second chapter and noticed that all the characters had changed that I realised. I think Hammett's style is better suited to short stories they are uncomplicated and so much clearer than his novels and ultimately much more readable.

There are ten short stories in all in this collection. Nine of them feature the Continental Op, who was first introduced in a collection of short stories entitled The Continental Op. Most of the stories are what would be expected from Hammett's work stories of wealthy families becoming involved with the city's low life. There are some stories that stand out though. Corkscrew sees the Continental Op (whose name we are never told) sent out to a small town in the Arizona desert to sort out the lawlessness and having to use his wits in an alien environment. In The King Business, he travels to Muravia, a Balkan state, where he becomes involved in a political coup where the army want to take control of the state. And in Dead Yellow Women, he becomes involved in the Chinese community, which he finds unfathomable.

Then there is Tulip, the only story in the collection which does not feature the Continental Op. It is the story of two men who meet again in later life. Both are educated, but both have a criminal past. The story was apparently the beginnings of a novel that Hammett was planning to write, but never got around to. It is totally uncharacteristic of Hammett's work; quite why it was placed in the middle of this particular collection of short stories I don't know. I found it lengthy and mind-numbingly boring.

My favourite stories are Fly Paper, the story of the daughter of a wealthy family who becomes involved in the criminal underworld; The Scorched Face, the story of two daughters of a wealthy family who go missing, after which one is found dead and the aforementioned Dead Yellow Women. However, with the exception of Tulip, all were vividly described, action-packed

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>