Thanks to Sonny for the heads-up on the Ellroy article. I
like Ellroy's fiction, but I'd never accuse him of being
either concise or coherent. Which makes this crisp appraisal
of Hammett -- one of the best-thought-out and on-target I've
ever read -- all the more remarkable. My guess is that it
isn't something he just dashed off.
Regarding The Op, someone suggested that the stories should
be collected. They have been, by Ellery Queen in several
softcover collections, by Lillian Hellman in The Big
Knockover and by Steven Marcus in a collection titled, as I
recall, The Continental Op, and more recently by Marcus in
the Library of America collection of Hammett: Crime Stories
and Other Writings.
As for the notion that much of Hammett's work is not quite up
to par with that of James M. Cain, that's a tough case to
make unless you've got a hat to talk through.
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