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The Continental Op
Corkscrew and Other Stories: Collected Case Files of the Continental Op: The Middle Years, Volume 3
From the sands of Arizona to the alleys of the Tenderloin, the Continental Op deals out rough justice, in this collection of short stories from master of noir fiction Dashiell Hammett
In the Arizona desert, the sun’s high, the heat’s relentless, and there’s murder in the air. Across this long stretch of sunbaked hell, one town stands out as the worst of all. Someone is killing the cowboys of Corkscrew, and Continental Op has been hired to stop the slaughter. From the moment he rides into town, he tastes dust on his teeth and blood in the wind. The locals have no respect for this hardboiled San Francisco detective, so it’s up to the Op to show them he deserves his badge. But before peace can come to Corkscrew, more men will die.
A portrait of a tough man in a rough town, “Corkscrew” offers a taste of Dashiell Hammett’s first novel, the legendary epic of hardboiled violence Red Harvest. Along with the other stories in this volume—“Dead Yellow Women” and “The Gutting of Couffignal”—it shows Hammett and his infamous Continental Op at the top of their forms.
In the Arizona desert, the sun’s high, the heat’s relentless, and there’s murder in the air. Across this long stretch of sunbaked hell, one town stands out as the worst of all. Someone is killing the cowboys of Corkscrew, and Continental Op has been hired to stop the slaughter. From the moment he rides into town, he tastes dust on his teeth and blood in the wind. The locals have no respect for this hardboiled San Francisco detective, so it’s up to the Op to show them he deserves his badge. But before peace can come to Corkscrew, more men will die.
A portrait of a tough man in a rough town, “Corkscrew” offers a taste of Dashiell Hammett’s first novel, the legendary epic of hardboiled violence Red Harvest. Along with the other stories in this volume—“Dead Yellow Women” and “The Gutting of Couffignal”—it shows Hammett and his infamous Continental Op at the top of their forms.
- GenresShort StoriesMystery
196 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 14, 2016
About the author
Dashiell Hammett
751 books2,944 followersAlso wrote as Peter Collinson, Daghull Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, Mary Jane Hammett
Dashiell Hammett, an American, wrote highly acclaimed detective fiction, including The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934).
Samuel Dashiell Hammett authored hardboiled novels and short stories. He created Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) among the enduring characters. In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in the New York Times, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction."
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell...
Dashiell Hammett, an American, wrote highly acclaimed detective fiction, including The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934).
Samuel Dashiell Hammett authored hardboiled novels and short stories. He created Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) among the enduring characters. In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in the New York Times, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction."
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 6, 2021
Pretty good. On to the next one!
Merged review:
Liked it a lot.
Merged review:
Liked it a lot.
July 5, 2017
Does hard boiled mean fist fights?
The forwards say Hammett was a real detective with Pinkerton so his stories are realistic. Really? However by simply skipping the gratuitous fistfights I like the stories just fine.
The forwards say Hammett was a real detective with Pinkerton so his stories are realistic. Really? However by simply skipping the gratuitous fistfights I like the stories just fine.
June 26, 2018
Another good outing for Dashiell Hammett and the Continental Op. One of the things I like best about reading these stories is how the "tough guy" banter and is so out of synch with today's metrosexual man. Call me a Neanderthal, but I think there's still a lot to be learned from the Continental Op. I look forward to making my way through the entire series.
June 1, 2024
I'm a big admirer of Hammett's novels - Red Harvest, The Glass Key, Maltese Falcon at least. I've been working my way through this series of Dashiell Hammett's short fiction in more or less chronological order. The previous five or so volumes have been a bit irregular in quality, naturally enough given the pulpy nature of the magazines they were initially published in. But they have had shining moments among them. Not so much this one.
The three stories here showcase the worst of Hammett's tendencies. Corkscrew features The Op in the middle of a hokey cowboy conflict. The other two, Dead Yellow Women and The Gutting of Couffignal, both rely on this incredible amount of unbelievable coincidence that really saps the stories of weight. Just silly stuff really. Worse, even reading these stories as artefacts of their time, the depiction of non-white characters is particularly vile, stereotyped and lazy. There's plenty of good Continental Op stories out there. Give these ones a miss.
The three stories here showcase the worst of Hammett's tendencies. Corkscrew features The Op in the middle of a hokey cowboy conflict. The other two, Dead Yellow Women and The Gutting of Couffignal, both rely on this incredible amount of unbelievable coincidence that really saps the stories of weight. Just silly stuff really. Worse, even reading these stories as artefacts of their time, the depiction of non-white characters is particularly vile, stereotyped and lazy. There's plenty of good Continental Op stories out there. Give these ones a miss.
December 3, 2017
The Continental Op never fails—never fails to solve the case and never fails to entertain. One of my favorites.
July 3, 2019
Great read.
August 19, 2019
"Dead Yellow Women" ranks with the all time wittiest crime stories. You'll see why Dash hit it off with Dorothy Parker's crowd.
A crime writer must-read!
A crime writer must-read!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews