Dashiell Hammett’s The Big Book of the Continental Op edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett collects all 28 Continental Op stories and both Continental Op novels. Rereading these wonderful stories shows how Hammett mastered his craft. The Continental Op is a canny detective with a hard-boiled edge. The stories range from crime in the streets to murder in High Places. Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett provide insightful and informative introductions to the chronological order of these works. The Big Book of the Continental Op is a must-buy for all mystery fans. AMAZON is selling The Big Book of the Continental Op for a mere $16: a bargain! It doesn’t get much better than than this! GRADE: A+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Forward: “Through Mud and Blood and Death and Deceit” by Julie M. Rivett ix
SECTION ONE: THE SUTTON YEARS
INTRODUCTION: THE SUTTON YEARS, 1923-1924 By Richard Layman 3
“Arson Plus” (Black Mask, Oct. 1, 1923) (as Peter Collinson) (CS). Suspecting insurance fraud, the Op investigates the burning of an isolated farmhouse and its reclusive inhabitant. 6
“Crooked Souls” (“The Gatewood Caper”) (Black Mask, Oct. 1, 1923) (BK) (CS). A bullying lumber baron has lost a daughter to kidnappers, but the Op isn’t convinced – of anything. 17
“Slippery Fingers” (Black Mask, 15 Oct. 1923) (as Peter Collinson) (CS). The Op and the police search for the owner of the fingerprints strewn over the scene of a gory murder. 27
“It” (“The Black Hat That Wasn’t There”) (Black Mask, Nov. 1, 1923). A reckless businessman plotted theft and elopement, then disappeared. The Op relocates him in a pitch-dark basement. 38
“Bodies Piled Up” (“The House Dick”) (Black Mask, December 1, 1923) (NT). Posing as a killer hunting a killer works too well as the Op gets caught in a crossfire. 47
“The Tenth Clew” (“The Tenth Clue”) (Black Mask, January 1, 1924) (CO) (CS) (RO). A rich man is killed with a typewriter and the Op gets dumped into San Francisco Bay. 56
“Night Shots” (Black Mask, February 1924) (NT). In a lonely country house, the Op investigates pot-shots aimed at a sick old scoundrel. 74
“Zigzags of Treachery” (Black Mask, March 1, 1924) (NT) (CS). When a prominent surgeon commits suicide and an unknown wife shows up, the Op and other agents follow suspect after suspect to untangle a decades-old conspiracy. 85
“One Hour” (Black Mask, April 1924) (NT) (RO). In a busy hour, a hit-and-run leads the Op to a print shop where he’s mobbed. 108
SECTION TWO: THE CODY YEARS
INTRODUCTION: THE CODY YEARS, 1924-1926 By Richard Layman 119
“The House in Turk Street” (Black Mask, April 15, 1924) (CO) (CS). Routine questions on a quiet street tumble the Op into a den of thieves. 122
“The Girl with Silver Eyes” (Black Mask, June 1924) (CO) (CS). Following on “Turk Street”, a dead poet leads the Op to a dark night’s shootout outside a rough-and-tumble roadhouse. 135
“Women, Politics and Murder” (“Death on Pine Street”) (Black Mask, September 1924) (NT) (CS). The Op shuttles between a hysterical wife and a dead-pan mistress, knowing both are liars, to learn who killed a city contractor. 161
“The Golden Horseshoe” (Black Mask, November 1924) (CO) (CS). The Op finds a hophead husband who ran away to Tijuana, but the wife he left behind turns up dead. 177
“Who Killed Bob Teal?” (True Detective Stories, November 1924) (NT). A fellow Continental detective was killed while shadowing a suspect, so the Op and a city cop retrace his steps. 202
“Mike, Alec or Rufus?” (“Tom, Dick or Harry”) (Black Mask, January 1925) (NT). The cops are stumped by a robber who ran into an apartment house and didn’t come out, but not the Op. 213
“The Whosis Kid” (Black Mask, March 1925) (CO) (CS) (RO). On a hunch, the Op trails a stick-up artist and worms his way into a “double-, triple- and septuple-cross.” 222
“The Scorched Face” (Black Mask, May 1925) (BK) (CS). Hunting two missing daughters, the Op uncovers a rash of debutante suicides and disappearances. 247
“Corkscrew” (Black Mask, September 1925) (BK). The Op is appointed Deputy Sheriff of Corkscrew, Arizona, where cowboys keep getting killed. 269
“Dead Yellow Women” (Black Mask, November 1925) (BK) (CS). The Op braves the dark alleys of Chinatown to learn why a seaside mansion was raided by Asian strangers. 301
The Gutting of Couffignal (Black Mask, December 1925) (BK) (CS) (RO). On a wealthy summer island, the Continental Op tries to thwart an invasion when the lights go off and machine guns fire up. 331
“Creeping Siamese” (Black Mask, March 1926) (CS). A man dies in the Continental office without revealing who knifed him. The Op connects the crime with the victim’s decade-old adventures in Asia. 350
SECTION THREE: THE SHAW YEARS
INTRODUCTION: THE SHAW YEARS, 1926-1930 By Richard Layman 361
“The Big Knock-Over” (Black Mask, February 1927) (BK) (CS). An army of imported gangsters raided two banks, and the Op dodges bullets and fists to find the mastermind. 364
“$106,000 Blood Money” (Black Mask, May 1927) (BK) (CS). In the aftermath of “The Big Knockover”, the Op hunts the double-crossing mastermind, as do “half the crooks in the country”. 396
“The Main Death” (Black Mask, June 1927) (CO) (CS). The Op ignores a suicide to get back $20,000 – at gun point. 419
“This King Business” (Mystery Stories, January 1928) (BK) (CS). Seeking a wayward son in the Balkan country of Muravia, the Op learns the boy is funding a kingly coup. 432
“Fly Paper” (Black Mask, August 1929) (BK) (CS). The Op finds a “wandering daughter” who liked rough “yeggs” and ended up dead. 443
The Farewell Murder” (Black Mask, February 1930) (CO) (CS). The Op struggles to prove a vendetta-bent sadist wasn’t nine hours away at the time of a grisly killing. 483
“Death and Company” (Black Mask, November 1930) (RO). Kidnappers collect ransom money from under the noses of the police, then kill their hostage. Death catches the culprit before the Op can. 504
BONUS: THE UNFINISHED OP
COMMENTARY By Julie M. Rivett 513
“Three Dimes” 514
SECTION FOUR: THE CONTINENTAL OP NOVELS
INTRODUCTION: THE CLEANSING OF POISONVILLE By Richard Layman 523
“The Cleansing of Poisonville” (Black Mask, November 1927). Summoned to “Poisonville”, the Op finds his client was murdered. The dead man’s father rules the town, so the Op strikes a deal to clean up the town “with a free hand”. Dodging double-crossing cops and crooks, he exposes the murderer. And refuses to call off the “cleansing”. 527
“Crime Wanted – Male or Female” (Black Mask, December 1927). Stirring up trouble, the Op un-fixes a fight and investigates a year-old “suicide” of the police chief’s brother, just as someone dynamites the City Hall holding cells. “Poisonville was beginning to boil out under the lid.” 555
“Dynamite” (Black Mask, January 1928). A raid on a bootlegger’s roadhouse makes the cops miss a bank robbery. As the mob ruling “Poisonville” gathers for a “peace conference”, the Op tosses “dynamite” that exposes multiple frame-ups and shatters the partnership. 579
“The 19th Murder” (Black Mask, February 1928). Getting “blood simple as the natives”, the Op wakes to find he may have ice-picked his female informer, so runs from the law while steering the mobs into a final battle for control of “Poisonville”. 599
INTRODUCTION : THE DAIN CURSERichard Layman 629
“Black Lives” (Black Mask, November 1928) 631
“The Hollow Temple” (Black Mask, December 1928) 657
“Black Honeymoon” (Black Mask, January 1929) 683
“Black Riddle” (Black Mask, February 1929) 707
ABOUT THE EDITORS 735
PERMISSIONS 737