Hammett, Dashiell << HAM iht, DASH eel >> (1894-1961), was the leader of the “hard-boiled” school of detective fiction. His stories feature “tough guys,” realism, brutality, and violence. Many of his novels center around a private eye (private investigator). In Red Harvest (1929) and The Dain Curse (1929), Hammett introduced the “Op” (operative), an agent for the Continental Detective Agency. Sam Spade appears in The Maltese Falcon (1930) and Ned Beaumont in The Glass Key (1931). Hammett created the witty amateur detectives Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934). Many of Hammett’s short novels and stories were collected in The Big Knockover (1966), The Continental Op (1974), and Nightmare Town (1999).
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born on May 27, 1894, in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Many of his stories reflect his personal experiences as a private detective for the Pinkerton Agency. In 1922, Hammett began writing for Black Mask, a magazine that specialized in publishing “hard-boiled” detective stories. Hammett died on Jan. 10, 1961. After his death, the Library of America published his Complete Novels (1999) and Crime Stories and Other Writings (2001).
