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michaelromeo's review against another edition
3.0
Reading again. Better than I thought on first reading
polywogg's review against another edition
3.0
BOTTOM-LINE:
Pretty pulpy.
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
A collection of short stories.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Stories include The Tenth Clew, The Golden Horseshoe, The House in Turk Street, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, The Whosis Kid, The Main Death, and the Farewell Murder.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Not well-developed and kind of campy.
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I was not personal friends with the author, nor did I follow him on social media.
Pretty pulpy.
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
A collection of short stories.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Stories include The Tenth Clew, The Golden Horseshoe, The House in Turk Street, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, The Whosis Kid, The Main Death, and the Farewell Murder.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Not well-developed and kind of campy.
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I was not personal friends with the author, nor did I follow him on social media.
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars.
The man from the Continental Detective Agency is not a nice man, nor are the people around him. The femmes are fatale, the youths are callow, and of the racial and ethnic minorities, the less said, the better (except to note that, for all the cringily outdated language Hammett uses for his minority characters, he still manages to have better racial diversity than a lot of stories written almost a century later).
And yet there's something so charming about the way the Op speaks, the way he plays those who are trying to play him, the way he sometimes wins by outsmarting the opposition and sometimes through sheer dumb luck.
Although the gross misogyny of later writers have given noir and the hard-boiled detective quite the bad reputation, Hammett's work still shines an example of the best the genre is capable of.
The man from the Continental Detective Agency is not a nice man, nor are the people around him. The femmes are fatale, the youths are callow, and of the racial and ethnic minorities, the less said, the better (except to note that, for all the cringily outdated language Hammett uses for his minority characters, he still manages to have better racial diversity than a lot of stories written almost a century later).
And yet there's something so charming about the way the Op speaks, the way he plays those who are trying to play him, the way he sometimes wins by outsmarting the opposition and sometimes through sheer dumb luck.
Although the gross misogyny of later writers have given noir and the hard-boiled detective quite the bad reputation, Hammett's work still shines an example of the best the genre is capable of.
psteve's review against another edition
5.0
The complete Continental Op stories (aside from the novel Red Harvest). Though I've read some of these stories before, and some more than once, this was a great trip through them all, in chronological order. You can see how Hammett's skill progressed over the time, and the character of the Op changed (a little). Some of the stories, especially the early ones, are a bit clumsy, and the solutions seem to come out of left field; that doesn't matter much, because it's not necessarily the whodunnit that you read these stories for.
What I enjoyed, a lot, was the picture of San Francisco in the 1920's. Hammett is pretty precise in is locations, and you really get a feel for the city at the time. Hammett's language, too, is always engaging, with lots of slang that was new to me. He's also very good with character.
A couple times he uses some tropes from later works; one character walks into a room and drops dead, as happened in The Maltese Falcon, and there's also the death of a partner, again, as in the Maltese Falcon.
If you've read some of the op stories, this Kindle book is great. It's 1100+ pages that is very easy to carry around; I'll probably keep it on my Kindle for some time, and dip back into these stories.
What I enjoyed, a lot, was the picture of San Francisco in the 1920's. Hammett is pretty precise in is locations, and you really get a feel for the city at the time. Hammett's language, too, is always engaging, with lots of slang that was new to me. He's also very good with character.
A couple times he uses some tropes from later works; one character walks into a room and drops dead, as happened in The Maltese Falcon, and there's also the death of a partner, again, as in the Maltese Falcon.
If you've read some of the op stories, this Kindle book is great. It's 1100+ pages that is very easy to carry around; I'll probably keep it on my Kindle for some time, and dip back into these stories.
carmenghia's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't realize this was a short story collection until I was halfway through the first story. I understand that the Continental Op character is the archetype for hard-boiled fiction and that Hammett wrote these stories based on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, but they aren't necessarily great. They feel like pulp magazine fiction and are generally straightforward 'and-then-this-happened-and-this-happened-after-that." I understand that Hammett's writing became more nuanced by the time he got around to writing Sam Spade novels but I haven't read them to compare. However, being a detective in an era of telegrams and telephone operators is a nice little time warp.
brobobby70's review against another edition
4.0
Tight writing, believable characters, great example of hard-boiled detective.
vesper1931's review against another edition
5.0
1 - The Tenth Clew - Mr Leopold Gantvoort had arranged a meeting with the Continental Op for 9.00pm at his home. The Op arrives on time, but Mr Gantvoort fails to appear, after waiting several hours and just as he was leaving a call to house informs his son Charles that his father is dead. But why are there so many clues. The Continental Op and Detective O'Gar investigate.
2 - The Golden Horseshoe - Attorney Vance Richmond wants him to find missing Englishman Norman Ashcraft for wealthy Mrs Ashcraft
3 - The House in Turk Street - While looking for a man in Turk Street, what does the Continental Op stumble into.
4 - The Girl with the Silver Eyes - The Continental Op is called out of bed one Sunday morning to visit a Burke Pangburn. He states, eventually, that his fiancee Jeanne Delano is missing. Of course the case is not as straightforward as it at first seems.
5 - The Whosis Kid - after the kid is pointed out to him in 1917 as a suspected gunman, it is not until 1925 that he sees him again. The Continental Op decides to follow him. He's known as Arthur Cory or Carey. And follows him into a lot of trouble.
6 - The Main Death - Continental Op is employed by a Bruno Gungen to discover who killed his associate Jeffrey Main and robbed him of Gungen's $20,000.
7 - The Farewell Murder - He is hired by a Mr Kavalov because Hugh Sherry has threatened that he will die.
An enjoyable re-read of a collection of short mystery stories
2 - The Golden Horseshoe - Attorney Vance Richmond wants him to find missing Englishman Norman Ashcraft for wealthy Mrs Ashcraft
3 - The House in Turk Street - While looking for a man in Turk Street, what does the Continental Op stumble into.
4 - The Girl with the Silver Eyes - The Continental Op is called out of bed one Sunday morning to visit a Burke Pangburn. He states, eventually, that his fiancee Jeanne Delano is missing. Of course the case is not as straightforward as it at first seems.
5 - The Whosis Kid - after the kid is pointed out to him in 1917 as a suspected gunman, it is not until 1925 that he sees him again. The Continental Op decides to follow him. He's known as Arthur Cory or Carey. And follows him into a lot of trouble.
6 - The Main Death - Continental Op is employed by a Bruno Gungen to discover who killed his associate Jeffrey Main and robbed him of Gungen's $20,000.
7 - The Farewell Murder - He is hired by a Mr Kavalov because Hugh Sherry has threatened that he will die.
An enjoyable re-read of a collection of short mystery stories
sixdaysago's review against another edition
3.0
Despite its influential nature and sharp prose, only a couple of the stories were actually thrilling. For the most part they seemed to reflect the locked room mystery genre, whereby the solution to the story lies in a monologue at the story's conclusion, with clear information withheld from the reader.
I would like to read the Op novels, though. These stories could use a bit more meat on their bones.
I would like to read the Op novels, though. These stories could use a bit more meat on their bones.
visualradish's review against another edition
4.0
More grounded in reality than Philip Marlowe and Sherlock Holmes, but still good fun.
bearforester's review
3.0
The first Hammett that I’ve read. Some of the stories are good, some just ok. I’ll try more of his work.
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