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| | Continental Op |  | Author: Dashiell Hammett
Publisher: Random House Inc (P)
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy Used: $2.80
You Save: $9.20 (77%)
Used (3) from $2.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 6710270
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
ISBN: 0394239024
EAN: 9780394239026
ASIN: 0394239024
Publication Date: June 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS ED 1975- PAPERBACK IN GOOD++ COND PAGES HAVE A FAINT TAN EDGE A SPINE HAS A CREASE-BUT NICE COPY
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Product Description
The Continental Op, the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives, unravels a murder with too many clues and tangles with a crooked-eared gunman in these stories.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Seven Continentl Op stories August 12, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
These are some of the earliest of Hammet's stories featuring the unnamed 'Continental Op'. The stories are:
The Tenth Clew
The Golden Horseshoe
The House in Turk Street
The Girl With the Silver Eyes
The Whosis Kid
The Main Death
The Farewell Murder
Most of them are good, but the only one that approaches the excellence of the the Continental Op novels ('Red Harvest' and 'The Dain Curse')is 'the Main Murder'. In this story Hammet displays his talent for creating memorable secondary characters and crackling dialogue.
 Seven Stories From the Twenties June 9, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The "Introduction" is by Professor of English Literature Steven Marcus. Marcus mentions Hammett's marriage, but not the name of his wife and daughters. Why did Hammett become a Stalinist Communist (p.xii)? Hammett certainly knew about organizations and their faults. The story of "Charles Pierce" may be a clue about a person who changed their name and location but not their habits (like Miss Wonderly). "Flitcraft" may be his derogatory term for "alienists" (p.xv). The plot of these stories is summarized: something unusual happens, and somebody will pay money to investigate so the facts will be discovered. The Continental Op (C-Op) is a corporate employee, not an independent businessman like "Sam Spade" or "Philip Marlowe".
Amendment XVIII gave the Federal government the power to control alcohol. It was the Volstead Act which outlawed the production and sale of cider, beer, and wine as well as liquor, but allowed people to buy and drink alcohol (p.xxii). Hammett's idea of organized gangs running society is another word for a ruling class; it is reality, not a notion (p.xxiii). The ban against collecting a reward (p.xxv) is to prevent framing people for a crime. Marcus questions the use of "violence" (p.xxvii); that is the use of lawful force. This "Introduction" isn't important, it is the stories that matter. Hammett knew there were political parties behind a candidate, bosses behind the parties, and wealthy individuals behind the corporations that control the political bosses. "Mr. Smith" went to Washington to find this out.
In "The Tenth Clew" the C-Op shows up to meet a client, but the client has been murdered. The tenth clue is to question the other nine clues. The C-Op learns something on the ferry from Oakland. [Does the last paragraph contradict lawyer Abernathy?]
In "The Golden Horseshoe" the C-Op is assigned to find a missing husband. He does, but when he returns he finds a dead client. The C-Op returns to Tijuana and runs a bluff to shake up the suspects. There is a surprise ending.
"The House on Turk Street" is visited by the C-Op when he is looking for a man. An old couple served him tea and cookies, and then a surprise. While the situation becomes unpleasant, the conflicting interests of the people there allow the C-Op to triumph.
"The Girl With the Silver Eyes" is about a woman who goes missing after closing out her bank account. Her boyfriend is heartbroken, then he disappears. The C-Op figures out the scam and traces the missing persons to Halfmoon Bay for the shocking end of this story.
"The Whosis Kid" begins with a rub-out attempt. The C-Op follows one man to learn more about him. This results in meeting a woman who is hiding. Other men come to her rooms and the story emerges from the conflicts. The police show up at the end.
"The Main Death" was a robbery by two who got clean away from the apartment building. The C-Op talked to Main's boss to learn more about him. After learning about other people the C-Op is able to recover the missing money. The ending will surprise and shock you.
"The Farewell Murder" has the C-Op traveling to rural Farewell to guard a millionaire from an old enemy. When this man is found murdered there are two likely suspects, with perfect alibis. The murder is solved for another surprising ending.
Hammet March 8, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A very fine work. Fiction? I am not so sure. A novel, but a very good sense of reflection from the society itself.
 Chandler's early work January 6, 2007
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
If anyone else had written these stories, they would have been masterpieces. Instead, Chandler wrote them - they're just journeywork on his way to mastery. Still, this journeyman blows the doors off most masters, and Chandler just got better as he wrote more.
They're stories about a detective working for a private agency. We know his name - heck we know lots of names, just not the one his mother gave him. We know that works for hire, and for people that can't talk to police, for any of many reasons. And we know that nothing is what it seems at first glance, or second, or maybe third. By the end of the book, judgement is permanently suspended. We always know something and probably suspect more, but live in bone-deep knowledge that the next guy who walks through the door will turn it all on its head.
These stories are dark, hard-boiled, and oddly anonymous. The Op has no name, or none that we can trust. His clients and enemies (not that there's a lot of difference) have no names either, at least none that will be the same in a week. And everything, yes everything will reverse itself before the story ends. Except, maybe, The Op, whoever he is.
//wiredweird, reviewing the 1974 Vintage edition, ISBN 039472031X
classic detective novel! October 27, 2006
This is a collection of short stories about the classic hard boiled detective who is tough, detached and in the end successful at solving the mystery tossed in his lap. The dialogue is brief, uncompromising and precise....after all tough guys don't emote, they take charge!!! The language is pure and evokes the 30's and 40's film noir dialogue. The alcohol flows and the smoke encompasses all and the attitudes are....well.........not the kind of thing that would be deemed politically correct!!!! This is a classic detective!!
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