In these stories and novellas he wrote for BLACK MASK and other pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, Dashiell Hammett transformed the American detective story into something original—a medium to explore the jarring textures and revved-up cadences of American life. As a chronicler of this underworld of criminality, he created the Continental Op, the nameless, stoic detective, jaded and fearless, who’s cast in the role of protagonist of most of the stories in this volume. Hammett’s experience as a Pinkerton detective gave his heavily plotted mysteries a gritty reality. His first-hand knowledge of San Francisco made him a natural chronicler of its seedy waterfronts, police stations, back alleys, and luxury hotels. By connecting the reality of American street life with American speech, Hammett pioneered a method of storytelling that came to be known as noir fiction, which would have a huge impact on fiction and movies for decades to come. Along with the rare classic "From The Memoirs of a Private Detective," this anthology also includes "Arson Plus," "The Tenth Clew," "Zigzags of Treachery," "The Assistant Murderer," "The Man Who Killed Dan Odams," "Women, Politics and Murder," "Who Killed Bob Teal?" "Mike, Alec, or Rufus," "Nightmare Town," "Night Shots," "One Hour," "The Bodies Piled Up," "The Road Home," "Ruffian’s Wife," "The Second-Story Angel," and "Afraid of a Gun."