Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), American detective-story writer, born in Saint Marys County, Maryland. He left school at the age of 13 and traveled and worked throughout the United States. After World War I (1914-1918) he was a private detective for eight years, an experience that furnished much of the material for his novels. The first two of these, Red Harvest (1929) and The Dain Curse (1929), met with immediate popularity. The Maltese Falcon (1930), in which Hammett introduced his best-known character, Sam Spade, was the forerunner of a style of “tough” detective fiction.

Hammett is especially noted for realism and unconventional directness of character delineation and dialogue; for the impact of his plot development, often involving graphic descriptions of brutal acts; and for sophisticatedly cynical social attitudes. In The Thin Man (1932), however, Hammett introduced a note of gaiety and humor with the detective couple Nick and Nora Charles.

Many of Hammett's novels were later made into highly popular radio programs and motion pictures, and he spent some years writing screenplays in Hollywood. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, allegations of pro-Communist activity were leveled against Hammett, and in 1951 he was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court.

See Mystery Story.