For a writer who turned out only five novels, Dashiell Hammett made a strong and lasting impression on the twentieth century and is considered one of the founding fathers of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing. In The Maltese Falcon he introduced Sam Spade; in The Thin Man it was Nick and Nora Charles. Four decades after his death all his novels remain in print along with many of the short stories and novelettes he wrote for the Black Mask detective pulp magazine. The Bogart film version of The Maltese Falcon (1941) can still be seen regularly on television or video. All six of the Thin Man films, starring the memorable team of William Powell and Myrna Loy, are also easily accessible.

Dashiell Hammett

Born in Maryland, Samuel Dashiell Hammett dropped out of school while in his...