How about this tempting introduction in "Black Mask" magazine to the short story when it first appeared in 1924? "There were enough clews in this crime to give Mr. Hammett's nameless detective a year or so of work. But solving a mystery in that length of time didn't appeal to him. He wanted faster action - and he got it in good measure. So will you if you begin this entertaining novelette." The Op has a late evening appointment with Leopold Gantvoort, subject unknown. When he arrives, his client is not there and the Op soon discovers Mr. Gantvoort has been murdered in strange circumstances. Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, "The Tenth Clew." 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...
