The Hunter and Other Stories

I first met Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) at the movies, specifically, the movies that were later run on television. I don’t know how old I was when I first watched William Powell and Myrna Loy in The Thin Man, but I do know I loved the movie. And then I saw Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.I probably saw Hammett’s name in the movies’ credits (“based on the novel by”), but it likely didn’t mean anything. My understanding of who Dashiell Hammett was and his writing had to wad until the mid-1970s, when a number of his books were republished. I read The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, The Dain Curse, The Glass Key, and Red Harvest (the Library of America has assembled all of them in one volume). I learned that all of his novels except The thin Man had been first published in serial form in various magazines of the hardboiled mystery and suspense genre that were common well into the 1950s (about the only survivors of the genre are Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine). I learned that he wrote numerous stories and several screenplays.And I learned about the man and his life – his work as a Pinkerton detective, his battle with tuberculosis, how he started writing, his family his relationship with writer Lillian Hellman (part of the story in the movie Julia; Jason Robards played a credible Hammett); and how he was caught up in the communist scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. He refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, was sent to prison for that refusal, and was blacklisted by both publishers and movie studios.I still enjoy reading his stories and novels His prose is lean, spare and power-packed. He was the best of the hardboiled detective school writers, and even today he’s recognized for being among the finest of American writers.I have another reason for enjoying his writing. My father was a fan. He read Hammett in the 1930s and 1940s, in all those mystery magazines. In fact, my father was the “target demographic” of many of those magazines, although the term wasn’t used back then. Reading Hammett is a connection to my father, and a connection to a very different time in American history and culture.Hammett’s stories have been collected and published over the years, and now comes "The Hunter and Other Stories," published by The Mysterious Press and edited with very helpful commentary by Richard Layman and Julie Rivett. It includes 18 stories and three “screen stories,” or plot summaries for movies. Most of the stories, including the title story, have never been previously published.Not all of the stories are crime or detective stories; Hammett often reached beyond the mystery and suspense magazines to reach a broader audience. But they are all recognizably Hammeett, with their tough, lean prose, action-filled scenes and often surprising twists and turns.In “The Hunter,” a detective investigates a fraudulent check, and it’s all in a day’s work. “The Diamond Wager” concerns a bet – whether a valuable necklace could be stolen from a jewelry store in Paris. “Magic” has a magician delivering what will cause himself personal pain. “Faith” is about the tragedy that dogs a man’s life, and what he does to avoid something worse. “The Cure” is also about a bet – that one man’s fear of swimming can be cured by another man (and the consequences are completely unexpected).The three screen stories – “The Kiss-Off,” “Devil’s Playground,” and “On the Make” – are recognizably noir.”The Kiss-Off” eventually became the 1931 movie City Streets, starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sydney. “On the Make” was filmed and released as “Mr. Dynamite” in 1935. “The Devil’s Playground” was created, the editors say in their commentary, as part of the deep interest in all-things-China in the 1920s and 1930s (remember Charlie Chan?) but was never filmed.It’s a fascinating volume. The stories are generally all period – they wouldn’t quite fit, or fit very well, with contemporary sensibilities. But they are stories by Dashiell Hammett, they bear his trademark and imprint. And that means they are and will continue to be entertaining.My father would have enjoyed them.

The book of short stories was very enjoyable. I think that the last three incomplete stories shouldn’t have been included. The explanation given for including them was absurd because the author writes Pulp fiction which is enjoyable but not to be studied like it’s a classic art form.

I like Hammett's other works but these were not up to his later standards. The stories are a good reflection on what it takes to find one's voice as a writer and that is what is here; a glimpse at a writer building his craft and not much more. There are bottom drawers in untold desks and dusty boxes in attics filled with stories like these.

It's great if you are already a fan or are a student of writing and writers. This is not his best work, but there are some highlights and some discoveries. It provides a very enjoyable sense of going along for the ride as he finds his way to being the writer that made him famous.

I stopped reading this book half way through. I have read whole books by this author and was very pleased with the work. This must be an effort to make money off his early doodlings, because I found the stories awful. Some just identify the day in a person's life, just nothing outstanding. Bored me so bad I didn't even want to pick up my kindle and read.

This nearly empties the archives (except for some exciting Continental Detective Agency material) and answers many long-standing questions for Hammett enthusiasts. The Sam Spade fragment is magnificent--not to be missed. And the fragments in the ebook edition are very intriguing. Doesn't get any better than this.

Scraping the bottle of the Hammett barrel . . .

Hammett originated Noir fiction, and always did it best. That is in large part due to the fact that he had been a real detective. Raymond Chandler's dialogue was often a bit stilted, Hammett was always on the mark.

Little bits of unpublished works. Hammett lovers will want to read these for the sake of completeness. They provide an insight into Hammett's outlook on social mores especially treatment of women.

Not bad

Book in perfect condition. Excellent

The problem with Hammett, as opposed to say Raymond Chandler, is that it is difficult to get his works in a readily accessible form. This goes someway to solving this problem. 'A Good Read'.

Never before published stories and should have remained so. If you are new to Dashiell Hammett please don't start with these stories. Go for his well known novels