Red Harvest

Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest”, first published in 1929, is narrated by one of the author’s most famous characters, “The Continental Op”, a character loosely based on the author’s own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The story concerns the investigation of several murders in Personville, known as “Poisonville” to those who live there, a corrupt mining town in Montana. “The Continental Op” is called to the town by newspaper publisher Donald Willsson, who is murdered before the narrator can meet with him. Donald’s father, Elihu Willsson, a local industrialist, finds his control of the town threatened by rival gangs whom he has invited to the town to help end a labor dispute. Soon, the town is embroiled in a gang war, and “The Op” must evade a corrupt police force while he works to restore order once again to the small town. In “Red Harvest”, we find a thrilling tale that would begin Hammett’s legacy as one of the greatest authors of the “hard-boiled” mystery genre.