Review of The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (1932, Penguin)

Nick Charles is a former PI, now looking after the business interests his wife has inherited, and living a wealthy life.  Nick and his wife, Nora, have travelled to New York for the Christmas holiday, staying in a suite in the Normandie.  Rather than the relaxing break they were hoping for, they are dragged into investigating the death of Julia Wolf, secretary to eccentric inventor, Clyde Wynant.  Swirling round Nick and Nora, as he tries to determine who killed Wolf, are Wynant’s estranged family, his former partner, his lawyer, some low-life hoodlums, and the police.  All of whom seem to have something to hide and gain.  The only person missing is the one everyone wants to meet – Clyde Wynant; the thin man.

The Thin Man is a crime farce, written in an all-tell, dialogue and action style, with no excess fat in the prose.  There’s a lot of melodrama, with people storming in and out, kissing and making up; and lots of lying, deceit, manipulation and double crosses.  Nick Charles is the rock at the centre of all this carry-on; the tough, no-nonsense PI, who’s able to calmly and authoratively take charge and sort the wheat from the chaff, and is attractive to dames and admired by men.  He’s the guy that everybody naturally turns to for help, including the police.  The characterisation is well developed and Hammett keeps the dozen or so central characters swirling round each other, with the pace relentless without being excessive, and the plot twisting continuously.  The story had a little too much melodrama for my taste, but it’s an enjoyable hardboiled yarn nonetheless.

Review of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (org. Alfred A. Knopf, 1930)

Sam Spade runs a detective agency in San Francisco with his partner Miles Archer. He’s hired by the beautiful Miss Wonderly to track down her seventeen year old sister, who has fled from New York with the married, no-good Floyd Thursby. Whilst trailing Thursby Archer is shot dead and not long after Thursby is also gunned down in front of his hotel. The police initially suspect Spade since he was having an affair with Archer’s wife. On confronting Miss Wonderly it’s clear that she’s afraid and not who she says she is, but is also unwillingly to reveal her secrets. Shortly afterwards Joel Cairo enters Spade’s office demanding to search the premises, looking for a valuable black enamel bird. Whoever Wonderly is, she’s wrapped up in a much bigger game of hunter and hunted that now includes Spade.

This is the first book I’ve read from the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum and within half an hour’s reading it was clear why it was voted onto the list. The characterisation is superb with each person well defined and memorable, the dialogue is snappy and well judged, and the plotting is first rate. The Sam Spade character, in particular, is an interesting invention – a sharp tongued, charismatic, womanising, man about town, handy with his brain and, if needed, his fists. The whole book had the feel of a good play – tight, closed sets with a handful of well-drawn characters in each scene that riff off each other through verbal sparring, violence and seduction, with plenty of melodrama and tension, and the story twisting and turning as it works its way to a satisfying conclusion. This is a lean, mean story that is action and dialogue driven, jaunting along at a terrific pace. It’s almost as if the book was written as a movie script. A thoroughly enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to reading more of Hammett’s works.

I can't get the film out of my head ...

Over the past couple of days I've been reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. It's pretty rare for me to read a book after seeing the film, and I have to admit it's a strange feeling. As I'm reading I can picture and hear Humphrey Bogart as clear as day. It's quite disconcerting. I can't help wondering whether if I'd read the book first, whether Humphrey Bogart would have fitted my mental image of Sam Spade? Usually this is one of things I find most jarring about seeing a TV or movie version of a book - the character's aren't portrayed as I've come to think of them. Regardless, I'm enjoying the book immensely, even though the book has look and sound of the movie.