The Continental Op - 1925-26

The seven Continental Op stories that Dashiell Hammett wrote during 1925 and 1926 for The Black Mask magazine.

Mike or Alec or Rufus was published in the January 1925 issue.

The Whosis Kid was published in the March 1925 issue. A novelette of thirteen chapters.

The Scorched Face was published in the May 1925 issue. A novelette of eleven chapters.

Corkscrew was published in the September 1925 issue. A novella of seventeen chapters.

Dead Yellow Women was published in the November 1925 issue. A novelette of eleven chapters.

The Gutting of Couffignal was published in the December 1925 issue. A novelette of nine chapters.

The Creeping Siamese was published in the March 1926 issue. A novelette of two chapters.

In his obituary in The New York Times, Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) was described as “the dean of the… ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction.”

Hammett is remembered for writing some of the seminal novels of crime fiction: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Glass Key, The Thin Man, and The Maltese Falcon.

Hammett began writing the Continental Op stories in 1923 and continued writing them until 1930. He wrote thirty-six Continental Op stories in all.