Red Harvest (Version 2)

This novel from 1929 introduces Hammett's recurring and always unnamed character, the "Continental Op," who works for the Continental Detective Agency. (Hammett himself worked for the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency for seven years.) By some accounts the first detective novel in America to be classified as "hard-boiled" fiction, Red Harvest has appeared on several “best of” lists, including Time magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. -