Dashiell Hammett

A compilation of works by one of the most popular writers of American, hard-boiled crime fiction features the tough, antihero detective, the Continental Op, who narrates four linked stories and the novel, "The Dain Curse."

"Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better: the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him?"--Publisher's description.

When a hard-fighting detective arrives in Personville and finds that his client has been murdered, he decides to investigate local gangland activities.