The Dain Curse

An overlooked treasure, THE DAIN CURSE is usually overshadowed by Dashiell Hammett's better known books, THE MALTESE FALCON and THE THIN MAN. This is unfortunate. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I think this book holds its own very well against its better known brethren. Perhaps it is the structure of the book, broken into three sections loosely tied together, THE DAIN CURSE features Hammett's best detective, the portly and nameless Continental Op. Called in to investigate diamonds stolen from the elderly Edgar Leggett, the Op soon learns of the curse which mysteriously follows the family and which also, incidentally, leaves a lot of people dead. The Op also recognizes that Leggett's beautiful daughter, Gabrielle, holds the key to the mystery. That Gabrielle is, plainly put, crazy, doesn't make the situation any easier. An apostle of a hocus pocus religious cult in San Francisco as well as a heroin addict, Gabrielle ties the three self-contained stories of THE DAIN CURSE together, providing an edgy line of continuity for the Op to follow. From cult houses to breezy seaside towns more dangerous than they appear, THE DAIN CURSE provides Hammett plenty of opportunity to show off his skills at producing maximum effect with a minimum of words. Like all of his works, Hammett writes with the effect of short powerful jabs, constantly forcing the reader to keep his guard up while producing, paradoxically, beautiful images that capture the reader's imagination despite (indeed, because of) their brutality. In the hands of a lesser writer, the three stories of THE DAIN CURSE would have felt disjointed and artificial. Hammett, though, makes the best of both worlds, producing enjoyable shorter works and tying them together into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

An overlooked treasure, THE DAIN CURSE is usually overshadowed by Dashiell Hammett's better known books, THE MALTESE FALCON and THE THIN MAN. This is unfortunate. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I think this book holds its own very well against its better known brethren. Perhaps it is the structure of the book, broken into three sections loosely tied together, THE DAIN CURSE features Hammett's best detective, the portly and nameless Continental Op. Called in to investigate diamonds stolen from the elderly Edgar Leggett, the Op soon learns of the curse which mysteiously follows the family and which also, incidentally, leaves a lot of people dead. The Op also recognizes that Leggett's beautiful daughter, Gabrielle, holds the key to the mystery. That Gabrielle is, plainly put, crazy, doesn't make the situation any easier. An apostle of a hocus pocus religious cult in San Francisco as well as a heroin addict, Gabrielle ties the three self-contained stories of THE DAIN CURSE together, providing an edgy line of continuity for the Op to follow. From cult houses to breezy seaside towns more dangerous than they appear, THE DAIN CURSE provides Hammett plenty of opportunity to show off his skills at producing maximum effect with a minimum of words. Like all of his works, Hammett writes with the effect of short powerful jabs, constantly forcing the reader to keep his guard up while producing, paradoxically, beautiful images that capture the reader's imagination despite (indeed, because of) their brutality. In the hands of a lesser writer, the three stories of THE DAIN CURSE would have felt disjointed and artificial. Hammett, though, makes the best of both worlds, producing enjoyable shorter works and tying them together into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

When a Continental Detective Agency operative is called in by an insurance company to investigate the theft of eight loose diamonds, he quickly realizes that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Something very strange is going on, and murder after murder seems to be swirling around young Gabrielle Leggett. Is there really a curse attached to her blood, a curse upon all of the Dains? It just might be true! I love detective stories, and read them all the time. But, Dashiell Hammett is not your everyday mystery writer; he's the originator of the hardboiled detective story. This book was first published in 1929, and it is a great read. I love the characters, and the way that they interact. But, even better is the dialogue, including the quote above! Overall, I think that this is a great story. If you like tough, two-fisted crime fiction, then this is the book for you. It's a great book by the king of his genre!

Unlike most people, I feel that THE DAIN CURSE was one of the best novels that Hammett has written. After reading THE MALTISE FALCON, and THE THIN MAN, this novel seemed to keep my attention more than the other two. It had action at every turn, and seemed not to dwell on one point, but investigate the different aspects of the case. This was a great novel, and was worth reading.

The Dain Curse begins with a routine insurance investigation. Some moderately valuable diamonds were stolen and the Continental Op is put on the case to find the culprit. Not soon after, the Op learns that something larger is going on. The family he is investigating has some deep secrets and maybe even a curse follows them. The story takes place in three parts with three different mysteries, but they culminate to solve the Dain Curse, which is at the center of all the action. I was introduced to the Continental Op a few years ago in short story form and loved the character quite a bit. I've been saving the novels for a few years and it was worth the wait. Hammett became famous for Sam Spade and the Thin man, but the Continental Op is deserving of more attention. He's not typically handsome and he's even short and fat, but he has enough brains an no how to get the job done. A shame that Hammett got sucked into revolutionary politics and spent the last 30 years of his life writing nothing of value, because his early stuff is nothing less than Great American Literature.