The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work. Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter-messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton's Detective Agency. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a classic murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.Ībout the Author Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. (Nov.About the Book Originally published in 1933, The Thin Man is the story of respectable peoplewho are prepared to murder between drinks-and do.īook Synopsis In Dashiell Hammett's famous crime novel, we meet one of the detective-story master's most enchanting creations, Nick and Nora Charles, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. A short unproduced treatment from 1938 titled “Sequel to the Thin Man” rounds out the book. In the 1939 effort, one of the two words uttered by the infant Nick Jr. Amazingly, the alcoholic author reported he spent 10 months sober while writing one of these bibulous scripts. Rivett, provide background on such matters as negotiations with MGM. Hammett scholar Richard Layman and Hammett’s granddaughter, Julie M.

Written in movie shorthand (“Nick and Nora exchange suspicious glances”), these treatments don’t represent Hammett’s artistic peak, though there’s the occasional nugget (“He is having the first ‘clean’ love affair of his life and thinks this slut is Joan of Arc”).

Hammett completists and film fans will best appreciate this collection containing the story treatments that became After the Thin Man (1936) and Another Thin Man (1939), the sequels to the original Hollywood hit, The Thin Man (1934), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as imbibing investigators Nick and Nora Charles, abetted by their adorable dog, Asta.

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett