This was the second novel included in the Dashiell Hammett twofer I picked up at the cat bookstore. It was less interesting and less satisfyingly constructed than The Maltese Falcon, but there was still enough classy Nick and Nora (and Mimi and Dorothy) patter to be thoroughly entertaining. How about a little drop to cut the phlegm, honey? I'll be sure to watch the film version to see whether the ending is more obvious once you know it's coming. Part of what made this one less effective was that its big sprawling plot, with so many tangentially related characters, made the ending appear as something of a Deus ex Machina. When Nick explains the whole works in a concluding soliloquy, I didn't come away with that delicious impression that I should have seen it all coming (which I had at the end of The Maltese Falcon). Though it's possible this was just a function of reading it mostly late at night.
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