When Dashiell Hammett died in 1961, a New York Times editorial said: "His prose was clean and entirely unique. His characters were as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction. His stories were as consistent as mathematics and as intricate as psychology. His gift of invention never tempted him beyond the limits of credibility."
Hammett was the creator of the modern suspense novel. In this collection of his five novels, four of which were transformed into notable motion pictures, Hammett's prose is as powerful as when it was originally published. His stories are exciting and well plotted, but he was mainly interested in the behaviour of his hero, whether it be Nick Charles or Sam Spade, in attacking a case.
Not only did Hammett writes stories of unmatched suspense, but he was an acute observer of the corruptions in our society and of the undercurrent of violence that runs through American life. As André Gide once said: "Dashiell Hammett's dialogue, in which every character is trying to deceive all the others and in which the truth slowly becomes visible thorugh the haze of deception, can be compared only with the best in Hemingway."