false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg 321270 8 Because he was silenced by illness, debt, harassment, and writer's block for so many years before his death in 1961 at the age of 66, any fresh appearance of work by Dashiell Hammett deserves to be treated with special attention and respect. The editors of this new collection of 20 of his best--and most representative--stories from pulp magazines such as <I>Black Mask</I> in the 1920s and 30s remind us how much influence Hammett had on the mystery genre, both in print and on screen. The opening of the title story has all the impact of a long shot in a terrific noir film: "A Ford--whitened by desert travel until it was almost indistinguishable from the dust-clouds that swirled around it--came down Izzard's Main Street. Like the dust, it came swiftly, erratically, zigzagging the breadth of the roadway." Then, in a perfect jump cut, "a small woman--a girl of twenty in tan flannel--stepped into the street. The wavering Ford missed her by inches, missing her at all only because her backward jump was bird-quick." We know we'll see that woman again, that the driver of the Ford, "a large man in bleached khaki" who carries a thick, black walking stick will be somehow changed by the encounter.<p> Seven of the stories in this meaty collection are about Hammett's most autobiographical creation, the San Francisco agency detective called the Continental Op, a shorter, chunkier version of Hammett's own days as a Pinkerton agent. Sam Spade, now fixed indelibly in our minds as Humphrey Bogart, stars in three others. There are also two early versions of <I>The Thin Man</I>, Hammett's last detective, and both are more interesting and definitely rougher-edged than the slick Nick and Nora Charles versions, which made the author a bundle in Hollywood. Taken together, these stories will remind the forgetful how important a literary icon Hammett was and inspire first-timers to seek out such other treats as <I>The Big Knockover</I>, <I>The Maltese Falcon</I>, <I>The Continental Op</I>, and <I>The Dain Curse</I> <I>--Dick Adler</I> 827548 1999 Nightmare Town total:215|5:66|4:84|3:54|2:11|1:0| 215 850 330 14 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 4 0 false Mon Dec 20 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Sat Mar 07 18:31:05 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 18:55:50 -0800 2009 Nightmare Town contains 20 stories by Dashiell Hammett that haven't seen the light of day in decades. It is definitely a nice surprise to have more stories from a writer who left us with too few works.

The stories in </I>Nightmare Town</I> are mostly what you would expect from...more...]]> 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 5 0 false Sun Aug 24 11:32:47 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 11:38:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 3 0 false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 08:02:19 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 08:06:21 -0800 2008 more...]]> 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 4 0 false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 30 10:20:50 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 30 10:32:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 5 0 false Mon Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 14:45:41 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 14:46:18 -0800 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 3 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 12 05:03:22 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 20 12:46:22 -0800 2009 more...]]> 321274 0330481096 9780330481090 3 1 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741635m/321274.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321274.Nightmare_Town_Twenty_Long_Unavailable_Short_Stories 3 0 false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Mar 12 15:20:44 -0700 2007 Mon Mar 12 15:22:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 5 0 false Fri Jun 29 07:35:35 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 16:12:53 -0700 2007 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 5 0 false Sun Nov 04 20:09:31 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 13 08:04:41 -0800 2008 223414 1600960847 9781600960840 10 1 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172853295m/223414.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223414.Nightmare_Town_and_Other_Stories 5 0 false Tue Jul 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jan 04 17:41:27 -0800 2009 Mon Sep 21 23:35:10 -0700 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 5 0 false Wed Jun 10 11:44:23 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 13:15:34 -0700 2009 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 5 0 false Wed Oct 17 19:16:16 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 08 16:51:30 -0800 2007 552675 0375401113 9780375401114 6 1 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175734874m/552675.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/552675.Nightmare_Town_Stories 5 0 false Fri Jun 22 22:34:04 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 22:34:44 -0700 2007 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 0 0 false Thu Jul 23 19:56:38 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 19:57:06 -0700 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 0 0 false Wed Dec 09 20:58:14 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 09 20:58:14 -0800 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 4 0 false Mon Dec 07 08:54:27 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 08:54:27 -0800 2009 842004 0375701028 9780375701023 42 5 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178825688m/842004.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/842004.Nightmare_Town_Stories 0 0 false Sat Dec 05 13:54:07 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 05 13:54:07 -0800 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 0 0 false Tue Dec 01 04:59:54 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 11:42:56 -0800 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 5 0 false Sun Nov 29 12:36:19 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 12:36:19 -0800 2009 321270 033048110X 9780330481106 153 6 3.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173741620m/321270.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321270.Nightmare_Town 0 0 false Sat Nov 28 18:50:36 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 18:50:43 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=842004