Quotes
“Everything
about the Leggett diamond heist indicated to the Continental Op that it was an inside
job. From the stray diamond found in the yard to the eyewitness accounts of a ‘strange
man’ casing the house, everything was just too pat. Gabrielle Dain-Leggett has
enough secrets to fill a closet, and when she disappears shortly after the
robbery, she becomes the Op’s prime suspect. But her father, Edgar Leggett,
keeps some strange company himself and has a dark side the moon would envy.
Before he can solve the riddle of the diamond theft, the Continental Op must
first solve the mystery of this strange family.” Amazon.com, editorial review
“Not just
the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best…Hammett saw the
rotten underbelly and wanted others to see it.” Times (London)
“Hammett’s
heroes are not merely tough; they often confront violence with full knowledge
of its inherently corrupting potential.” The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
“Cool,
tough, and hard-boiled in attitude, [Hammett’s] works employ Hemingway’s mood
and spare, realistic dialogue in the genre of the detective story.” The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature
“There’s
plenty of reason to suppose that Chandler wouldn’t have created Marlowe,
Macdonald wouldn’t have created Archer, Nebel wouldn’t have created Donahue,
etc., etc., etc., had Hammett not first created the Op.” Jim Doherty
“The Op,
the durable survivor, just goes about his hired business and underplays his
hand before he applies the thumbscrews…unhampered by either imagination or
fear.” Kirkus Reviews
“In The Dain Curse the Op returns in a more
melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult.” Library Journal