From Chinatown's dark alleys to the fog-shrouded Golden Gate, crooked politicians ran San Francisco. To Hammett, retired Pinkerton operative and struggling writer, it was all just grist to the fictional mill. Until the night his pal walked into a baseball bat.
Then Hammett hung up his typewriter, put on his gumshoes and went out into the brawling, swaggering city to find a brutal murderer.
'Crime Masterworks' is a library of the greatest crime fiction ever written, chosen with the help of today's leading crimewriters and critics. However, they are categorised - hard-boiled, suspense, police procedural - all books in the series are the best of their kind.
