Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continetal Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. In these stories the Op unravels a murder with too many clues, looks for a girl with eyes the color of shadows on polished silver, and tangles with a crooked-eared gunman called the Whosis Kid.

The Continental Op, the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives, unravels a murder with too many clues and tangles with a crooked-eared gunman in these stories.

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