"Arson Plus" by Dashiell Hammett (narrated by Evan Mercer)

Dashiell Hammett is the undisputed master of hardboiled detective fiction, and one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. In his first year, Hammett published twelve stories in magazines before “Arson Plus” (his pioneering “hard-boiled” story) appeared in the October 1, 1923, issue of The Black Mask under the pseudonym, Peter Collinson.
In “Arson Plus”, Hammett introduces the nameless detective, the Continental Op (an operative in the San Francisco office of the Continental Detective Agency) as the narrator, whom Hammett described as: "a little man going forward day after day through mud and blood and death and deceit-as callous and brutal and cynical as necessary”
In his intro to the story, “Collinson” writes:
“This is a detective story you’ll have a hard time solving before the end. Form your ideas of the outcome as you go along and then see how near you guessed it.”
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[@art.and.lit.matters]

Hi Evan, I’ve been fascinated by “Black Mask” for decades. Your performance of Hammett’s stories is so masterful it captures the stunning force of those works. I feel like I’ve tumbled into a time-capsule of the mid 1920’s. I just did a video on “Black Mask.” If you can spare 9 minutes you might just like it. Best Wishes and thank you for these fabulous performances. Thomas

[@SM-gl8yo]

Thank you. I really enjoyed this!

[@lesterbrandt3203]

Love the stories & delivery, but the ambient noise makes it very hard to hear. The majority of people living to-day are of an age to have at least some hearing loss. Hope you can afford to record elsewhere. Thank you for using a microphone. Thank you for the story.

[@stopthecrazyguy9948]

I enjoy your readings very much and I thank you. I do have a suggestion. Would you please tone down the gun shots and bullets. The noise is overwhelming on earbuds. It caused me to lose the thread of the narrative. In all other respects your readings are excellent.

[@evanmercer9997]

Thank you very much for listening to my readings. and yes I will tone down the gun shots. didn't realize this was a problem. Evan

[@sittnknittnwatchn3980]

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