Glass Key

Corruption, murder, beauty and innocence . . . ''Great crime fiction started with Hammett'' James Ellroy

''Not just the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best'' THE TIMES

Ned Beaumont is a tall, thin, moustache-wearing, TB-ridden, drinking, gambling, hanger-on to the political boss of a corrupt Eastern city.

Nevertheless, like every Hammett hero (and like Hammett himself), he has an ...