Here's the introduction used in "Black Mask" for this short story when it was first published in 1924: "Like all of Mr. Hammett's detective stories, this tale starts with a very ordinary police case, and just as you think you have it all figured out, it takes several unexpected turns and ends up with a bang." But it's up to you to find out how the title fits the story. Neither "Black Mask" nor "The Big Book of the Continental Op" provides another clue. Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, "One Hour." Entries for collections of short stories, and each of the other individual stories, can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. There are a total of 28 short stories plus one incomplete; they can all be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Continental Op Short Story." Librarian's note #2: there are also two Continental Op novels, "Red Harvest" (also known as "The Cleansing of Poisonville), and "The Dain Curse."
Author
Also wrote as Peter Collinson, Daghull Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, Mary Jane Hammett Dashiell Hammett, an American, wrote highly acclaimed detective fiction, including The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934). Samuel Dashiell Hammett authored hardboiled novels and short stories. He created Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) among the enduring characters. In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in the New York Times, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell...
