The Big Knockover (CRIME MASTERWORKS)

Dashiell Hammett first wrote about the Continental Op, the short, fat, balding detective with no home, no name and no personal existence apart from his work, more than eighty years ago. In doing so he created one of the most enduring icons of modern times - the private eye, the isolated hero in a treacherous and brutal world. The Continental Op stories are among Hammett's finest and most colourful writing.