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 miscreantsin twentieth-century fiction. It is nearly impossible to imagine modern American literature without Hammett.

Vintage Hammettfeaturesepisodes fromRed Harvest,The Maltese Falcon,The Dain Curse,andThe Thin Man;and stories featuring the Continental Op, including The House in Turk Street, The Girl with the Silver Eyes,” and “Flypaper. It also includes the story “Nightshade” which has not been available in over fifty years.

Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of the great modern writers, presented in attractive, affordable paperback editions.