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The Continental Op
It - a Continental Op Short Story - #4
In The Big Book of the Continental Op there is an introduction for this short story - from Black Mask. It's intriguing. "Calling a detective to solve a crime that turns out to be something quite different from the first diagnosis makes a very unusual story of this. You'll be surprised!" We hope you like it.
The Op is visiting the offices of an investment company. One of their clients turned over $100,000 in Liberty Bonds to the firm a few months ago prior to an overseas trip. The client hoped they could be sold while he was away. Instead, they're missing.
Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, Arson Plus. Entries for collections of short stories and the other individual stories can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can all be found by searching Goodreads for: a Continental Op Short Story.
Librarian's note #2: there are also two Continental Op novels, Red Harvest (also known as The Cleansing of Poisonville), and The Dain Curse.
The Op is visiting the offices of an investment company. One of their clients turned over $100,000 in Liberty Bonds to the firm a few months ago prior to an overseas trip. The client hoped they could be sold while he was away. Instead, they're missing.
Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, Arson Plus. Entries for collections of short stories and the other individual stories can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can all be found by searching Goodreads for: a Continental Op Short Story.
Librarian's note #2: there are also two Continental Op novels, Red Harvest (also known as The Cleansing of Poisonville), and The Dain Curse.
9 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
About the author
Dashiell Hammett
749 books2,942 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 of 1 review
September 30, 2025
4 Stars. I'm struggling with the full meaning of the title, but not with the short story. In just 9 pages, it begins over there on one side and ends over here on the other. It's a good one. Get ready for a surprise. It was first published in Black Mask magazine in 1923. Hammett's granddaughter, Julie M. Rivett, and Richard Layman collected all the Op stories and the two novels in The Big Book of the Continental Op in 2017; their all-in-one concept works for me! I will slowly but steadily read and review them all. And then the book as a whole. We start in the middle of the Op's visit to a man's office. "Now listen Mr. Zumwalt, you're holding out on me," he says. Zumwalt then proceeds to tell the real version of his story. How he and Daniel Rathbone, with whom he is a partner in an investment company, received $100,000 in Liberty Bonds from a client two months ago. Very negotiable. The bonds had been in the vault on Saturday but were missing on Tuesday after Rathbone departed for an important appointment in New York. Now he's disappeared too. Crisp and clear, that's Hammett's style. You'll enjoy it. (Au2020/Se2025)
Displaying 1 of 1 review