‘Hunter and Other Stories’ (2013) cleans out Hammett’s files

The last scraps of Dashiell Hammett’s writings were published in “The Hunter and Other Stories” (2013). It includes 15 never-before-published stories, including three screen treatments and one fragment; and five under-published stories (published once previously in a magazine or collection). (Plus one story by another author; more on that below.) The treatments and fragment are in the mystery genre, but the others are straight literary fiction.

When analyzing the works of legendary writers, we tend to side with the writer and lambast editors for being too shortsighted to publish all their works. But this collection reveals the wisdom of 1920s magazine editors, as most of these unpublished stories were rightly rejected.

In fairness to Hammett, it should be noted that had any been accepted for publication, they would’ve gone through the editorial process, which likely would’ve improved them. The works in “The Hunter” did not receive that treatment; these are first drafts, collected for historical interest more so than literary enjoyment.

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The collection includes, in my estimation, five hidden gems that would’ve been worth publishing back in the day. I’ll institute a SPOILER WARNING here, since many of these stories are so short I can’t help but describe them. The gems are:

Five worth reading

“The Hunter” – A detective does his hardboiled job of getting a poor man to admit he forged a check, then he picks up a mundane item on the way home. Although mystery-adjacent in this case, this story illustrates a trend in Hammett’s unpublished works: ironic, absurdist slices of life. Which is very much my cup of tea, if done well.

“Fragments of Justice” – We go into the minds of three jurors, none of whom should be in that position. This piece raises the veil on the fact that justice is blind, but not always in a good way.

“A Throne for the Worm” – An office drone is totally put-upon at his job, but he behaves like a king at the barber’s. It’s an ironic illustration not of a cycle of violence, but simply a cycle of mildly rude behavior.

“An Inch and a Half of Glory” – This slightly longer story uses its word count for substance. A man is hailed as a hero for rescuing a kid from a fire, then his whole life is defined by the act – with his full support (as we know, because we get his inner monolog, as with most stories here). But he gradually realizes this is not good for him.

“Nelson Redline” – He’s similar to the self-centered man in “Inch and a Half,” but in reverse: He’s infamous for running from a fire rather than helping others. We learn he aims to preserve his life at all costs under the belief that – although he’s a horrible artist right now – he’s going to someday create works that will transform society. It’s a creative bit of mental gymnastics to turn selfishness into selflessness, encouraging us to reflect on how we all fool ourselves on some issues.

Of educational value only

Partial credit goes to “The Breech-Born,” which is the right length (two pages) for a goofy punchline. A man is born in an absurd way and dies in an absurd way.

Among the misfires, a recurring flaw is that Hammett takes to long to get to a punchline. An editor could’ve worked with him to tighten these into quick fables similar to the successes above. These whiffs include “The Sign of the Potent Pills,” where a novice detective is useless at the scene of a holdup, but happenstance makes him seem useful, which inexplicably impresses a dimwitted gal; and “The Cure,” wherein an arrogant man drowns while teaching a terrified man how to swim.

In a couple cases, Hammett has a germ of an idea but can’t shape the clay properly. “Faith” is similar to “Nelson Redline,” but not as good; it chronicles a man who does something bad, thinks he’s preventing something worse, and blames his bad act on God’s guiding hand. “Action and the Quiz Kid” is mercifully short, but the zinger of a con man conning his protege lands with an unpleasant thud.

(END OF SPOILERS.)

Someone else’s story intrudes

“The Diamond Wager” aims to be a grand description of a con, but the author is too descriptive of the secret compartment that ferries jewels from one room to another. Eventually known for his economical writing, this piece suggests Hammett’s skill was learned rather than ingrained. That would be if Hammett wrote it.

Although editors Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett make no mention of this controversy, aside from noting the pseudonym Samuel Dashiell, it’s becoming more accepted that “The Diamond Wager” was not written by Hammett. Rather, it was the only published short story by a well-known foreign correspondent named Samuel Dashiell, who was stationed in Paris at the time this Paris-based tale was penned.

Combined with the anti-Hammett style of writing – unnecessary, dull detail replacing the brisk, raw facts readers need to know – and the 1929 publication date (a time when Hammett had found his style), I’m convinced “Diamond Wager” was written by newspaper man Samuel Dashiell.

You can read more about the case in an excellent essay by Will Murray, guest-writing in Bob Byrne’s blog. If you’re disappointed by the dearth of detective stories in “The Hunter and Other Stories,” you can at least enjoy the mystery of “The Diamond Wager’s” authorship.

Nonsense and movie treatments

The rest of this collection’s entries are nonsensical, bordering on unreadable, with their only value being biographical, in that they show Hammett’s interests: magic (“Magic”), boxing (“Monk and Johnny Fox”) and romance (“The Lovely Strangers,” “Week—End,” “On the Way”). Spade’s speech to Brigid at the end of “The Maltese Falcon” says more about men-women relations, but these shorts at least show Hammett stumbling toward insightful writings on gender roles.

The collection is rounded out by the Sam Spade story fragment “A Knife Will Cut for Anybody” (which has the seeds of an engaging opening chapter) and three screen treatments – short ones for “City Streets” (1931) and “Devil’s Playground” (unmade) and a long one for “Mr. Dynamite” (1935).

As with “Return of the Thin Man” (2012), which collects the treatments for the first two sequels in that franchise, I think it would be neat if someone would “novelize” these treatments, similar to how Charles Osborne novelized three Agatha Christie plays that don’t come from novels. Largely, this would consist of changing the tense from present to past and making sentences complete. It would make for a more readable version while retaining the spirit.

Hammett scholars Layman and Rivett (Hammett’s granddaughter) provide fairly sparse commentary, and the misfire on “The Diamond Wager” is unfortunate. They go deeper in other collections, such as the magnificent “Big Book of the Continental Op” (2017).

Since the main purpose of “The Hunter and Other Stories” is education rather than entertainment, it achieves its aim. But it is for Hammett completists only.

Sleuthing Sunday reviews the works of Agatha Christie, along with other new and old classics of the mystery genre.