by Dashiell Hammett

New York 1932, the last days of prohibition. Nick and Nora are a couple who spend much of their time in hotels and speakeasies drinking copious amounts of alcohol. I found them very shallow characters and the book very dialogue heavy.

After a gruesome news story I'd rather not have read about a grizzly murder, Nick, a former detective, takes an interest and wants to investigate. This leads to encounters with various low life characters.

I had to push myself to read this, but it was blessedly short and one more well known story ticked off my list. I can see how it did better as a movie. It had that 40's film feeling to it, all stiff dialogue and Rita Hayworth flipping her hair (okay so Myrna Loy played the role, it's that era).

I can't say that I actually cared about the characters at any point. I'm not big on murder mysteries so the plot wasn't of great interest for me. The lack of description made it difficult to visualise the surroundings or much of what the characters looked like or wore so any clues had to come from the dialogue.

The thing I've most taken away from this read was the knowledge that this is not a genre for me, though I've committed to reading one more by the same author, just because it's that well known.

(Original Review, 1981-03-08)


"We don't do it that way...You're a storywriter. I can't trust you not to build up on what I tell you. I'll save mine till after you've spoken your piece, so yours won't be twisted to fit mine."

In “The Dain Curse” by Dashiell Hammett


"'Are you -- who make your living snooping -- sneering at my curiosity about people and my attempts to satisfy it?'
'We're different...I do mine with the object of putting people in jail, and I get paid for it, though not as much as I should.'
'That's not different...I do mine with the object of putting people in books, and I get paid for it, though not as much as I should.'"

In “The Dain Curse” by Dashiell Hammett

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

(Original Review, 1999-12-10)



When one wants to elect the best of Dashiell Hammet, one invariably chooses “The Maltese Falcon”, Classic that it is, but instead I would go for Dashiell Hammett’s short novel, “Nightmare Town” as one of my favourites. The set up is brilliant and the wider issues - American criminality, capitalism, the mirage of consumption - is all combined with some brilliant intrigue, weird characters, and clean hard boiled prose. Unlike the Sam Spade novels, though, “Nightmare Town” has kind of palpable energy and ambition that gives it greater flavor as well as substance.

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.