Blood Money

A well-organized army of criminals takes San Francisco’s financial district by storm, emptying the vaults of the city’s largest banks, then disappearing without a trace – all within minutes.  The bullet-ridden corpses of the robbers begin turning up soon after – apparently the mastermind has decided to keep all the loot for himself, rather than splitting it 150 ways.


Blood Money is considered by many Hammett scholars to be Hammett’s true first novel, predating Red Harvest by two years. Originally appearing in 1927 as two short stories in Black Mask under the titles “The Big Knockover” and “$106,000 Blood Money,”  the story was presented as a single novel in 1943. 


In addition to being action-packed, Blood Money makes an excellent lead-in to Red Harvest.  Perhaps best of all is Hammett's roll-call of rogues:  a seemingly-endless list of the most outlandish nicknames ever assembled in one place, including Alphabet Shorty McCoy, Toby the Lugs, The Shivering Kid and... well, you'll want to read the rest for yourself.