"The Tenth Clew"
Hammett is such a straight forward story teller He dives right into this story as he goes to the house of a man who has summoned him. He arrives to find his potential client has been killed. Just what the man feared. Nine items have been recovered from the dead man's person and he asks the man's son, if they all belonged to his father. The son identified nine items that were his father's. Of course, there's a woman in the story and her brother. A well-written story I enjoyed.
10 comments:
I sometimes think Hammett is underrated as a short story writer. He's done some great ones. I'm glad you enjoyed this, Patti.
I've enjoyed every Continental Op story I have read. The character reminds me of Joe Friday -- he gets the job done in as straightfoward a manner as possible, without any sentimentality or nonsense.
Love Hammett in general and the Op stories in particular.
I've never read a Sigrid Nunez novel, but currently reading her collected stories, IT WIKL COME BACK TO YOU. Very good so far.
Also have the Complete Collection of J.G. Ballard's stories, perfect - if often depressing - for these times. In 1961's "Deep End," the oceans have almost totally dried up, and the survivors are being shipped to another planet. The protagonist (he's 22) is refusing to leave, insisting he wants to be there when people return.
I love Nunez especially THE FRIEND, which made me consider buying a dog.
Yes, Hammett is very to the point but it doesn't lack atmosphere.
I love dogs, but Jackie is not an animal lover, unfortunately.
A friend has two dogs that required surgery. The bill: $5000. The yearly cost of a dog or cat is about $3500. Over the lifetime of a pet it will cost you about $35,000. Many people don't factor in the costs when they make the decision to have a pet. Veterinarians charge more than regular doctors!
I'm reading Nunez's "Imagination" now. It's narrated by a teenage girl at her pretentious parents' annual summer party. "They were all actors, of course." (She is thinking about the hired servers.) "This isn't a party, it's a film about a party."
I will have to put that on hold.
Patti, I have a copy of this book (The Continental Op). I purchased it many years ago at the Planned Parenthood book sale, and I don't know why I have waited so long to read the stories. Possibly because almost all of the stories are 40 pages long or longer.
I also enjoyed reading the comments about Sigrid Nunez here. Now I really want to find a copy of The Friend.
Well, the insuranc in veterinary medicine, is usually worse/less comprehensive, when it exists at all. We probably don't pay quite that much a year, each nor together, for our current feline duo.
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