Dashiell Hammett is often called the father of the modern American detective story. He was himself a private detective for Pinkerton's before turning to writing at age 28. Many of his subsequent stories featured the Continental Op, a nameless private detective who became the archetype for a generation of hard-boiled mystery story detectives. Among Hammett's best-known novels are The Dain Curse (1929), The Maltese Falcon (1930), and The Thin Man (1932). The hero of The Maltese Falcon, detective Sam Spade, is a famous fictional character and was played by Humphrey Bogart in the film version of the novel. Hammett had a long and feisty love relationship with author Lillian Hellman, which is sometimes blamed for his minimal writing output from 1934 until his death.

Novels
* Red Harvest (1929; The Continental Op)
* The Dain Curse (1929; The Continental Op)
* The Maltese Falcon (1930; Sam Spade)
* The Glass Key (1931; Ned Beaumont)
* The Thin Man (1934; Nick and Nora Charles)
* Woman in the Dark (1988; originally serialized in 1933, Liberty Magazine)