The Big Book of the Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett

The Big Book of the Continental Op
Dashiell Hammett
Edited by
Richard Layman
Julie M. Rivett

[@art.and.lit.matters]

Hi Michael, You do a wonderful job of bringing the Continental Op alive as a character. That "Black Mask" cover with "Poisonville" and a pre-Mason Erle Stanley Gardner story at (6:30) is fabulous. Reading the stories as they appeared in the 1920s adds such a fascinating "time-capsule" dimension to the stories. I've loved "Red Harvest" as a novel for decades but reading it in its original "Black Mask" installments is thrilling. "The Scorched Face" which appeared in the May 1925 issue of "Black Mask" is one of my favorite short stories ever. I love how the stories, first appearing in a pulp, wound up influencing almost all the detective fiction that came after and had a huge impact on other genres as well. Pulp becomes "literature" is a fun trajectory. Nicely done Michael.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks Thomas!

[@timmeyer9191]

Hammett is one of my favorite authors. I've read Red Harvest, and it is one of the best things I've seen put to paper.

[@kenward1310]

I have Red Harvest on my nightstand, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[@saintdonoghue]

How I wish “The Big Book of the Continental Op” had used pretty much ANY of those old Dell covers instead of the boring one the editors chose for this book!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

That cover photo is about as dull as they come.

[@laurels7892]

I am currently reading The Casebook of Stanley Zoom from that same era.

[@AndrewBuckleBookReviews]

A superb book !! Wonderful video as ever.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks Andrew!

[@paulmonahawk4921]

Fascinating great video michael 👍

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks Paul!

[@jeremyfee]

I love how, in my own life, I knew of the Pinkerton Detective Agency through westerns, novels and films, before I got around to reading Dashiell Hammett's work. I was impressed when I found out he was inspired by his own work as a detective, though that makes some of his own stories and novels all the more bizarre when you realize he may have actually investigated scenarios like those (weird cults and such), or knew other people who had done that. Side note, I had thought my total number of "books by Dashiell Hammett" would be stuck at 5, but if I read this collection, I suppose that would bring it up to 6.

[@evanames5940]

Another must read. I actually read the Dane Curse, but not the other stories. Good Video.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks Evan!

[@Kikilang60]

Thanks. Have to seriously look into this.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Great review! I’m looking forward to reading this soon!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It’s great. It starts of good and gets better as it goes on.

[@DoUnicornsRead]

Wonderful video bringing some rather underrated stories to life! Also, great edition of the Continental Op. I've only read a selection if the stories because that was the only edition I could get at the time with just a few of the stories. Hope the fencing went well.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I need to back up and do even more fencing!

[@BookishChas]

This character sounds really fascinating!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

He is.

[@danielmarlett1421]

I grabbed the collection recently because you were seductively waving it around and I had to have it. I can't wait to dive in but it will likely have to wait until next year.

[@denisadellinger4543]

This guy sounds like the archetype for every other spy detective story, movie that has been written. It sounds like Dashell Hammet was ahead of his time. I think that the early writers of mystery, crime and detective works are the ones who have the influence. The continental op sounds like a crime solver that has moved into the more modern times. not quite what we have today with the technical and medical capabilities but the grit and grime detective. I was rapt up in your retelling just as I always am. I need to go back and watch the movies that were adapted from his stories.

[@art.and.lit.matters]

"Archetype" is the perfect word for the Continental Op. Those stories appearing in "Black Mask" in the twenties permanently transformed detective fiction and also had a huge impact on non detective writing. "The Scorched Face" is almost a hundred years old and yet has an urgently contemporary feel. Great comment.

[@bard5865]

Mr. Vaughan, I love these big books series which you are doing. I was wondering if there was a big book for fantasy or science fiction stories?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yes, both edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann Vandermeer.

[@freelivefree7221]

As you said The Continental Op is essential. Mystery fiction would look a whole lot different with out him. Joe Gores is another detective novelist who was a detective. His Dan Kearney and Associates stories were based on his employment at a detective agency/repo agency combination. One of the stories actually crossover with the Op.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks for letting me know about Joe Gores!

[@drumbaugh7444]

Makes me want to light up a Fatima.

[@DDB168]

Short and fat, he clearly wasn't thinking of the tv and movie rights 😉

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Ha! True!