Dashiell Hammett Popular Books

Dashiell Hammett Biography & Facts

Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), The Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9. Hammett is regarded as one of the very best mystery writers. In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction." Time included Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest on its list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. In 1990, the Crime Writers' Association picked three of his five novels for their list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. Five years later, The Maltese Falcon placed second on the The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time as selected by the Mystery Writers of America; Red Harvest, The Glass Key and The Thin Man were also on the list. His novels and stories also had a significant influence on films, including the genres of private eye/detective fiction, mystery thrillers, and film noir. Raymond Chandler, often considered Hammett's successor, summarized his accomplishments in his essay "The Simple Art of Murder": "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought dueling pistols, curare, and tropical fish... He is said to have lacked heart, yet the story he thought most of himself [The Glass Key] is the record of a man's devotion to a friend. He was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before." Early life Hammett was born near Great Mills on the "Hopewell and Aim" farm in Saint Mary's County, Maryland, to Richard Thomas Hammett and his wife Anne Bond Dashiell. His mother belonged to an old Maryland family, whose name in French was De Chiel. He had an elder sister, Aronia, and a younger brother, Richard Jr. Known as Sam, Hammett was baptized a Catholic and grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett's family moved to Baltimore when he was four years old in 1898, and for the most part, it was the city where he lived until he left permanently in 1920 when he was 26 years old. As a teen, Hammett attended the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, but his formal education ended during his first year of high school; he dropped out in 1908 due to his father's declining health and the need for him to earn money to support the family.He left school when he was 13 years old and held several jobs before working for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He served as an operative for Pinkerton from 1915 to February 1922, with time off to serve in World War I. While working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Baltimore, he learned the trade and worked in the Continental Trust Building (now known as One Calvert Plaza). He said that while with the Pinkertons he was sent to Butte, Montana, during the union strikes, though some researchers doubt this really happened. The agency's role in strike-breaking eventually left him disillusioned.Hammett enlisted in 1918 and served in the United States Army Ambulance Service. He was afflicted during that time with the Spanish flu and later contracted tuberculosis. He spent most of his time in the Army as a patient at Cushman Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, where he met a nurse, Josephine Dolan, whom he married on July 7, 1921, in San Francisco. Marriage and family Hammett and Dolan had two daughters, Mary Jane (born 1921) and Josephine (born 1926). Shortly after the birth of their second child, health services nurses informed Dolan that, owing to Hammett's tuberculosis, she and the children should not live with him full time. Dolan rented a home in San Francisco, where Hammett would visit on weekends. The marriage soon fell apart; however, he continued to financially support his wife and daughters with the income he made from his writing. Career and personal life Hammett was first published in 1922 in the magazine The Smart Set. Known for the authenticity and realism of his writing, he drew on his experiences as a Pinkerton operative. Hammett wrote most of his detective fiction while he was living in San Francisco in the 1920s; streets and other locations in San Francisco are frequently mentioned in his stories. He said, "I do take most of my characters from real life." His novels were some of the first to use dialogue that sounded authentic to the era. "I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much, it's because he's not to be trusted when he does."The bulk of his early work, featuring a nameless private investigator, The Continental Op, appeared in leading crime-fiction pulp magazine Black Mask. Both Hammett and the magazine struggled in the period when Hammett became established. Because of a disagreement with editor Philip C. Cody about money owed from previous stories, Hammett briefly stopped writing for Black Mask in 1926. He then took a full-time job as an advertisement copywriter for the Albert S. Samuels Co., a San Francisco jeweller. He was wooed back to writing for the Black Mask by Joseph Thompson Shaw, who became the new editor in the summer of 1926. Hammett dedicated his first novel, Red Harvest, to Shaw and his second novel, The Dain Curse, to Samuels. Both these novels and his third, The Maltese Falcon, and fourth, The Glass Key, were first serialized in Black Mask before being revised and edited for publication by Alfred A. Knopf. The Maltese Falcon, considered to be his best work, is dedicated to his wife Josephine. For much of 1929 and 1930, he was romantically involved with Nell Martin, a writer of short stories and several novels. He dedicated The Glass Key to her, and in turn she dedicated her novel Lovers Should Marry to him. In 1931, Hammett embarked on a 30-year romantic relationship with the playwright Lillian Hellman. Though he sporadically continued to work on material, he wrote his final novel in 1934, more than 25 years before his death. The Thin Man is dedicated to Hellman. Why he moved away from fiction is not certain; Hellman speculated in a posthumous collection of Hammett's novels, "I think, but I only think, I know a few of the reasons: he wanted to do new kind of work; he was sick for many of those years and getting sicker." In the 1940s, Hellman and he lived at her home, Hardscrabble Farm, in Pleasantville, New York.The French novelist André Gide thought highly of Hammett, stating: "I regard his Red Harvest as a remarkable achievement, the last word in atrocity, cynicism and horror. Dashiell Hammett's dialogues, in which every character is trying to deceive all the others and in which the truth slowly becomes visible through a fog of deception, ca.... Discover the Dashiell Hammett popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dashiell Hammett books.

Best Seller Dashiell Hammett Books of 2024

  • The Complete Dashiell Hammett Short Story Collection - Vol. III - Unabridged synopsis, comments

    The Complete Dashiell Hammett Short Story Collection - Vol. III - Unabridged

    Dashiell Hammett & Kevin Theis

    Dashiell Hammett is universally regarded as one of the finest American writers of "hard boiled" detective fiction and his short stories and novels have been hailed as some of the b...

  • Red Harvest synopsis, comments

    Red Harvest

    Dashiell Hammett

    The steadfast and sturdy Continental Op has been summoned to the town of Personvilleknown as Poisonvillea dusty mining community splintered by competing factions of gangsters and p...

  • The Drowning Pool synopsis, comments

    The Drowning Pool

    Ross MacDonald

    When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her goodfornothing son and his seductive teenage daughter. In The Drowning Pool,...

  • The Early Pulp of Dashiell Hammett - Volume 1 synopsis, comments

    The Early Pulp of Dashiell Hammett - Volume 1

    Dashiell Hammett

    Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born on May 27th, 1894 at Saint Mary's County, Maryland. Despite a short education he laid the groundwork for his classic writing by later working for ...

  • A Key to the Suite synopsis, comments

    A Key to the Suite

    John D. MacDonald

    Corporate hatchetman Hubbard is on his way to an industry convention to carry out a termination a fancy way of saying he's about to toss a man and his family out in the street. Bu...

  • Dashiell Hammett synopsis, comments

    Dashiell Hammett

    Sally Cline & Otto Penzler

    Dashiell Hammett changed the face of crime fiction. In five novels published over five years as well as a string of stories, he transformed the mystery genre into literature and le...

  • Area of Suspicion synopsis, comments

    Area of Suspicion

    John D. MacDonald

    Four years ago Gevan Dean found his fiancée Niki Webb in his brother Ken's arms and fled his hometown for a peaceful life in the Florida sun. But now Ken is dead murdered by a thi...

  • Soft Touch synopsis, comments

    Soft Touch

    John D. MacDonald

    Jerry Jamison wants out: out of a sloppy marriage, a dull job and the empty suburban rat race. Once Jerry had a beautiful bride and a good salary at her old man's successful busine...

  • The High Window synopsis, comments

    The High Window

    Raymond Chandler

    The renowned novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe Featuring the iconic character that ...

  • The Only Girl in the Game synopsis, comments

    The Only Girl in the Game

    John D. MacDonald

    Her employers are the high priests of Las Vegas and she is their handmaiden. Her job is to lead the lambs to the sacrifice, to keep them happy at the tables, where her partners sla...

  • April Evil synopsis, comments

    April Evil

    John D. MacDonald

    The stage was set. Harry Mullin had hit town first. But he had just made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, and he was a little nervous about being seen. With him at the rented house ...

  • The Big Sleep synopsis, comments

    The Big Sleep

    Raymond Chandler

    The renowned novel from the crime fiction master, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe. Featuring the iconic character that inspired the...

  • The Early Pulp of Dashiell Hammett - Volume 2 synopsis, comments

    The Early Pulp of Dashiell Hammett - Volume 2

    Dashiell Hammett

    Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born on May 27th, 1894 at Saint Mary's County, Maryland. Despite a short education he laid the groundwork for his classic writing by later working for ...

  • The Chocolate Falcon Fraud synopsis, comments

    The Chocolate Falcon Fraud

    JoAnna Carl

    From the bestselling author of The Chocolate Clown Corpse, it’s murder, my sweet, for a chocolatier whose love of old crime films plunges her into a reallife murder where the motiv...

  • The Neon Jungle synopsis, comments

    The Neon Jungle

    John D. MacDonald

    The Varaki family run the local grocery store, but tragedy hits the family hard. The sudden death of the matriarch of the clan is followed by the favourite son's death in Korea. Th...

  • For the Love of Books synopsis, comments

    For the Love of Books

    Graham Tarrant

    A lighthearted book about books and the people who write them for all lovers of literature. Do you know: Which famous author died of caffeine poisoning? Why Alice’s Adventures in ...

  • One Monday We Killed Them All synopsis, comments

    One Monday We Killed Them All

    John D. MacDonald

    Step by step, Dwight McAran built a wall of vicious hate around himself. It was easy. He was a man who could slap one woman to death because she loved him, and hum a love song to a...

  • Border Town Girl synopsis, comments

    Border Town Girl

    John D. MacDonald

    Contains the two novellas Border Town Girl and Linda. Border Town GirlOnce, Lane Sanson had been a Somebody war correspondent and a bestselling author. Now he was a ...

  • Crime and Catnip synopsis, comments

    Crime and Catnip

    T.C. LoTempio

    Nick and Nora aren’t just pussyfooting around this time as they deal with a missing person’s case and murder.While catering a gala for the Cruz Museum, Nora Charles agrees to look ...

  • The Big Book of Rogues and Villains synopsis, comments

    The Big Book of Rogues and Villains

    Otto Penzler

    Edgar Awardwinning editor Otto Penzler's new anthology brings together the most cunning, ruthless, and brilliant criminals in mystery fiction, for the biggest compendium of bad guy...

  • Locked Rooms synopsis, comments

    Locked Rooms

    Laurie R. King

    “A truly bravura performance [with] all the magnetic appeal of the best of the original Conan Doyle novels.”The Strand MagazineEn route to San Francisco to settle her family’s esta...

  • The Dark Vineyard synopsis, comments

    The Dark Vineyard

    Martin Walker

    The second installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Bruno, Chief of Police: When a bevy of winemakers descend on SaintDenis the idyllic t...

  • Two for the Money synopsis, comments

    Two for the Money

    Max Allan Collins

    AFTER 16 YEARS ON THE RUN, WOULD NOLAN BURY THE HATCHET WITH THE MOB…OR WOULD THEY BURY HIM FIRST?They don’t come tougher than Nolan – but even a hardened professional thief c...

  • The Glass Key synopsis, comments

    The Glass Key

    Dashiell Hammett

    Ned Beaumont is a gambler and a professional troubleshooter for his friend Paul Madvig, a cheerfully corrupt political power broker who aspires to greater thing...

  • On the Run synopsis, comments

    On the Run

    John D. MacDonald

    Sid Shanley couldn't stay in one place very long. He had to keep on the run, changing towns, changing jobs, changing women. He worked out the perfect setup no attachments, no trai...

  • The Hotel Neversink synopsis, comments

    The Hotel Neversink

    Adam O'Fallon Price

    A 2020 Edgar Award Winner!"A gripping, atmospheric, heartbreaking, almostghost story. Not since Stephen King's Overlook has a hotel hiding a secret been brought to such vivid life....

  • Dashiell Hammett Collection synopsis, comments

    Dashiell Hammett Collection

    Dashiell Hammett

    Contains the following short stories: Afraid of A Gun, Arson Plus, Bodies Piled Up, Death On Pine Street, Man Who Killed Dan Odams, Mike Alec Or Rufus, Nightmare Town, Night Shots,...

  • The Deceivers synopsis, comments

    The Deceivers

    John D. MacDonald

    Her name was Cindy, and she was his neighbour's wife the woman next door in the kind of suburbia that didn't make headlines. These were real people, nice people like Cindy and Car...

  • Cry Hard, Cry Fast synopsis, comments

    Cry Hard, Cry Fast

    John D. MacDonald

    A gunman on the run, a seventeenyearold girl on a family vacation, a jaded working girl, a guiltstricken widower, an abandoned mistress. All heading fast down a route to sudden dea...

  • Murder for the Bride synopsis, comments

    Murder for the Bride

    John D. MacDonald

    Dillon Bryant, a successful engineer, is off on assignment after finishing his honeymoon. But news from home comes that his new bride, Laura, a beautiful woman whom he had met only...

  • The Maltese Falcon synopsis, comments

    The Maltese Falcon

    Dashiell Hammett

    FEATURING THE CHARACTER THAT INSPIRED THE AMC SERIES MONSIEUR SPADE STARRING CLIVE OWENONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIMEDetective Sam Spad...

  • The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries synopsis, comments

    The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries

    Otto Penzler

    The Most Complete Collection of Impossible Crime Stories Ever Assembled, with puzzling mysteries by Stephen King, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Agatha Christie, Georges Si...

  • Barrier Island synopsis, comments

    Barrier Island

    John D. MacDonald

    Tucker Loomis is a hard and dangerous man with a ruthlessness all West Bay fears and respects, and an improbable amount of money. Wade Rowley is a common man who aspires to honour ...

  • The Thin Man synopsis, comments

    The Thin Man

    Dashiell Hammett

    Nick Charles seems to find trouble wherever he goes. He thinks his sleuthing days are behind him when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, turns up dead. Nickthanks to some persuasio...

  • Dear Los Angeles synopsis, comments

    Dear Los Angeles

    David Kipen

    A rich mosaic of diary entries and letters from Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert Einstein, and many more, this is the story of Los Angeles as told by locals, tran...

  • The Drowner synopsis, comments

    The Drowner

    John D. MacDonald

    Lucille Hanson had rid herself of the wrong man her rich husband who lived casually and loved carelessly. Then she found another man she hoped would be right. She was putting toge...

  • The Mexican Tree Duck synopsis, comments

    The Mexican Tree Duck

    James Crumley

    WINNER OF THE DASHIELL HAMMETT AWARDOne night up in Montana, C.W. Sughrue sets his seedy bar’s pricey jukebox in front of an oncoming freight train. When predictable results ensue,...

  • One More Sunday synopsis, comments

    One More Sunday

    John D. MacDonald

    Welcome to the Eternal Church of the Believer, where devout workers operate stateoftheart computer equipment to process the thousands of dollars that pour in daily and where hundre...

  • The Brass Cupcake synopsis, comments

    The Brass Cupcake

    John D. MacDonald

    In Flower City, a sleepy resort town on Florida's Gulf Coast, wealthy Elizabeth Stegman is murdered in a jewel heist gone bad her missing jewels insured for £750,000.It falls to h...

  • The Beach Girls synopsis, comments

    The Beach Girls

    John D. MacDonald

    Leo Rice seems like a nice enough guy, but why does he have to choose their beach? He could head ten miles up the Florida strip and everyone could just live happily ever after no ...

  • Vintage Hammett synopsis, comments

    Vintage Hammett

    Dashiell Hammett

    Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, The Continental Op. In his novels and stories, Dashiell Hammett created some of the most memorable charactersdetectives, dames, and assorted miscr...

  • A Man of Affairs synopsis, comments

    A Man of Affairs

    John D. MacDonald

    Sam Glidden owed all his success to the opportunities he'd received from Thomas McGann, president of the Harrison Corporation. But now McGann was dead, and Mike Dean, a wildly flam...

  • The Dashiell Hammett Megapack synopsis, comments

    The Dashiell Hammett Megapack

    Dashiell Hammett

    "The Dashiell Hammett Megapack" collects 20 early and rare stories by the famous mystery writer, plus one poem. Included in this volume are: AFRAID OF A GUN ARSON PLUS THE NEW RACK...

  • The Price of Murder synopsis, comments

    The Price of Murder

    John D. MacDonald

    On the surface, they seem like three very different people: Danny Bronson, a cunning excon struggling to go straight; his brother, Lee, a former Gridiron star turned college profes...

  • The Last One Left synopsis, comments

    The Last One Left

    John D. MacDonald

    When a yacht explodes in the Bahamas, apparently killing six people, Sam Boyleston, an attorney from Texas and the brother of one of the victims, is compelled to investigate the ci...

  • A Flash of Green synopsis, comments

    A Flash of Green

    John D. MacDonald

    James Wing was only trying to help his friend's widow. At least that's what he told himself after he warned Kat Hubble that the beautiful bay that she and her neighbours had strugg...

  • Slam the Big Door synopsis, comments

    Slam the Big Door

    John D. MacDonald

    When Mike Rodenska, a former journalist and recent widower, visits his old friend Troy Jamison in Florida, he's shocked at what he finds. For despite the parties, the shapely women...