Red Harvest is the first full novel by Dashiell Hammett, the author universally regarded as the father of ‘hard boiled’ detective fiction. An enormous hit upon its publication, it has since become a classic of the detective genre. Time Magazine included Red Harvest in its 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
Narrated by Hammett’s enigmatic detective known only as the ‘Continental Op, ‘ Red Harvest finds the Op being summoned to the mining town of Personville (called ‘Poisonville’ by the locals) by a newspaper publisher looking to rid the town of a pair of violent gangs originally hired to enforce a labor settlement. When the publisher is murdered before the Op can even arrive on the scene, he finds himself wrapped up in a murder investigation, a love affair, a gang war…and then becomes a murder suspect himself.
Filled with twists and turns, violence, betrayal, greed and corruption, Red Harvest was originally serialized in Black Mask magazine before being published as Hammett’s first novel in 1929. It has since been hailed as one of the finest pieces of detective fiction ever written and the style, plot and characters have inspired dozens of films and television shows in the ensuing decades. Red Harvest is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
Circa l’autore
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his ‘hard-boiled’ detective fiction and the iconic characters he created for his books, including the Continental Op (Red Harvest and the Dain Curse), Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), and Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man). Hammett is considered one of the finest mystery/detective writers of the 20th century. As a young man, Hammett signed up to be an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, but the agency’s role in strike-breaking soured Hammett to Pinkerton and he joined the Army in 1918 and served in World War I. While in the Army, Hammett contracted tuberculosis and the ill-effects of his consumption would plague Hammett for the rest of his life. In 1922, Hammett began to publish short stories in some of the popular mystery magazines of the era, particularly Black Mask, for whom he wrote a number of stories featuring his nameless private investigator, the Continental Op. He began producing these stories at a furious rate, eventually expanding into novels – Red Harvest and The Dain Curse – which he serialized in Black Mask prior to publication. In 1930, Hammett wrote The Maltese Falcon, which featured Sam Spade, one of the most popular characters in all of detective fiction. Then, in 1934, Hammett topped himself, creating Nick and Nora Charles, the protagonists of the wildly popular book The Thin Man. Both would later be adapted into successful motion pictures, the latter spawning five sequels. Once Hammett moved to Hollywood and began writing screenplays, his fiction writing almost entirely ceased. His activism in left-wing politics would eventually lead to Hammett being placed on the ‘blacklist.’ Hammett’s career troubles were exacerbated by his alcoholism and his drinking, in turn, worsened his health. He died of lung cancer in 1961.Despite his life and career struggles later in life, Dashiell Hammett is still considered one of the greatest mystery writers of all time and his work proved to be an inspiration to an entire generation of young authors from Ernest Hemingway to Raymond Chandler and many others.
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