[The Continental Op 2.30] • Le grand braquage

Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Op's one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hell's acre in the Arizona desert, and the bank job to end all bank jobs, along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor, Bluepoint Vance, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.

Contents:

Introduction by Lillian Hellman

The Gutting of Couffignal

Fly Paper

The Scorched Face

The King Business

The Gatewood Caper

Dead Yellow Women

Corkscrew

Tulip

The Big Knockover

$106,000 Blood Money