‘Nightmare Town’ (1999) an essential cross-section of Hammett’s work

In stark contrast to Doyle’s “Holmes” stories, and to a greater degree than Christie’s shorts, Dashiell Hammett’s short stories have had a checkered publication history. Up until recently, previously unpublished and under-published material was still getting its first mainstream release. One of the most important, and best, collections is “Nightmare Town” (1999).

This is for three main reasons: First, seven more Continental Op stories become readily available, raising the number to 26 out of the 28 at the time (“The Continental Op” and “The Big Knockover” were the first two essential Op collections). Second, the three Sam Spade short stories are conveniently gathered. And finally, we get several examples of one-off detectives who we would’ve happily followed into more stories.

I covered the Op stories in my review of “The Big Book of the Continental Op” (2017). If the Op is 1A among Hammett’s detectives, Sam Spade is 1B (and Nick and Nora are 1C). Spade seemingly moves most smoothly from Hammett’s brain to the page though.

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Seeing how zesty the dialog is in “A Man Called Spade,” “Too Many Have Lived” and “They Can Only Hang You Once,” it’s remarkable that Hammett wrote these for money in the wake of “The Maltese Falcon’s” success, not out of passion for the character (plus his secretary, Effie). All three follow that appealing structure of “Falcon” wherein once Spade figures out the solution, he outlines it in detail to his listener. I like the Continental Op, but it’s a shame he outpaces Spade at 28 short stories and two novels to three short stories and one novel.

One-off sleuths

Nick and Nora make no appearance in this book (in literature, they only appear in “The Thin Man”), but we see how Hammett had the name “Thin” and the plot of the mysteriously missing Mr. Wynant on his mind in two yarns. “A Man Named Thin” chronicles one of those one-off sleuths, a young man who aims to be a mystery writer. The investigation of a case is his opportunity to learn to write accurately.

“The First Thin Man” is a skippable oddity for casual readers: an abandoned (after 10 chapters) first draft of what would become “The Thin Man.” Guild (who would become a supporting player in “The Thin Man,” at least in name) is the investigator. Hammett calls him “the dark man” and portrays an emotionless, by-the-book official detective, his answer to Christie’s Battle. One gets the sense that Hammett is trying too hard, and certainly the lively banter of Nick and Nora is what “The Thin Man” needed.

“The Assistant Murderer” is a stronger attempt to invent a memorable sleuth, as Alec Rush is known for his ugliness; I pictured The Penguin from the new HBO series. “Two Sharp Knives” seems like an Op story, since we have a first-person narrator, but he’s a chief of police named Scott Anderson, delving into internal police corruption.

The titular “Nightmare Town” is a strong kickoff, as a decent drifter named Steve Threefall decides to settle in a Western town for a while. It’s not quite as dark as Poisonville in “Red Harvest,” but he must determine who he can and can’t trust, notably among them the femme fatale telegraph-office worker.

Curiosities and a gem

“Ruffian’s Wife” and “The Man Who Killed Dan Odams” play with perspective, as Hammett uses the POV of the wife of what would normally be the main character. In the first case, she’s the wife of an operative, but since she rarely sees him and knows nothing of his job’s details, she is able to sympathize with the enemy. In the second case, Hammett writes a harsh Western, wherein a rural woman seems to be helping an escaped convict, but there’s a twist.

Further branching off from mysteries, the collection goes into “day in the life” character pieces with “His Brother’s Keeper,” about a young man who (we can see by his internal thoughts) defines his life in relation to the sibling he admires, and the darkly ironic, building-to-a-punchline “Afraid of a Gun.” “The Hunter and Other Stories” (2013) would scrape up more sketches of humanity, but it wouldn’t find any superior to this pair.

Like a “Man Named Thin,” but superior, “The Second-Story Angel” is a tale of a mystery author who taps into real life for an idea. By happenstance, Carter Brigham finds the titular she-burglar breaking into his apartment. Rather than turn her in, he brokers an agreement to interview her for the sake of material for another hit novel.

The twist one-ups “Dan Odams,” and I rank “Second-Story Angel” as the best of the collection – which on the whole is well above second-rate. If you want a cross-section of Spade, the Op and strong examples of Hammett’s one-off works, you can’t do better than the “Nightmare Town” collection.

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