Continental Op Stories

Continental Op Stories

By Dashiell Hammett.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Arson Plus
4. Crooked Souls
5. Slippery Fingers
6. It
7. Bodies Piled Up
8. The Tenth Clue
   1. I: “Do You Know … Emil Bonfils?”
   2. II: “That’s Something!”
   3. III: “A Sleek Kitten That Dame!”
   4. IV: “Maybe That Ain’t So Foolish!”
   5. V: “Meet Mr. Smith”
   6. VI: “Those Damned Horns!”
   7. VII: “You Have a Lot of Fun, Don’t You?”
   8. VIII: “I Hope You Swing!”
9. Night Shots
   1. I
   2. II
   3. III
   4. IV
10. Zigzags of Treachery
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
    12. XII
11. One Hour
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
12. The House in Turk Street
13. The Girl with the Silver Eyes
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
    12. XII
    13. XIII
    14. XIV
    15. XV
    16. XVI
    17. XVII
    18. XVIII
    19. XIX
14. Women, Politics & Murder
    1. II
    2. III
    3. IV
    4. V
    5. VI
    6. VII
    7. VIII
15. The Golden Horseshoe
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
16. Who Killed Bob Teal?
17. Mike or Alec or Rufus
18. The Whosis Kid
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
    12. XII
    13. XIII
19. The Scorched Face
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
20. Corkscrew
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
    12. XII
    13. XIII
    14. XIV
    15. XV
    16. XVI
    17. XVII
21. Dead Yellow Women
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
22. The Gutting of Couffignal
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
23. Creeping Siamese
    1. I
    2. II
24. The Big Knock-Over
    1. II
    2. III
    3. IV
    4. V
    5. VI
    6. VII
    7. VIII
    8. IX
    9. X
    10. XI
    11. XII
    12. XIII
    13. XIV
    14. XV
25. $106,000 Blood Money
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
    12. XII
26. The Main Death
27. This King Business
    1. I: “Yes”—and “No”
    2. II: Romaine
    3. III: Shadowing
    4. IV: Introductions
    5. V: A Flogging
    6. VI: Cards on the Table
    7. VII: Lionel’s Plans
    8. VIII: An Enlightening Interview
    9. IX: Conjectures
    10. X: Einarson in Control
    11. XI: A Romantic Interlude
    12. XII: The Night Before
    13. XIII: Progress Goes “Betune”
    14. XIV: Coronation
    15. XV: Bargain Hunters
    16. XVI: Lionel Rex
    17. XVII: Mob Law
28. Flypaper
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
29. The Farewell Murder
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
    4. IV
    5. V
    6. VI
    7. VII
    8. VIII
    9. IX
    10. X
    11. XI
30. Death and Company
31. Colophon
32. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Arson Plus

Jim Tarr picked up the cigar I rolled across his desk, looked at the band, bit off an end, and reached for a match.

“Fifteen cents straight,” he said. “You must want me to break a couple of laws for you this time.”

I had been doing business with this fat sheriff of Sacramento County for four or five years⁠—ever since I came to the Continental Detective Agency’s San Francisco office⁠—and I had never known him to miss an opening for a sour crack; but it didn’t mean anything.

“Wrong both times,” I told him. “I get two of them for a quarter; and I’m here to do you a favor instead of asking for one. The company that insured Thornburgh’s house thinks somebody touched it off.”

“That’s right enough, according to the fire department. They tell me the lower part of the house was soaked with gasoline, but God knows how they could tell⁠—there wasn’t a stick left standing. I’ve got McClump working on it, but he hasn’t found anything to get excited about yet.”

“What’s the layout? All I know is that there was a fire.”

Tarr leaned back in his chair, turned his red face to the ceiling, and bellowed:

“Hey, Mac!”

The pearl push-buttons on his desk are ornaments as far as he is concerned. Deputy sheriffs McHale, McClump and Macklin came to the door together⁠—MacNab apparently wasn’t within hearing.

“What’s the idea?” the sheriff demanded of McClump. “Are you carrying a bodyguard around with you?”

The two other deputies, thus informed as to who “Mac” referred to this time, went back to