The Dain Curse

By: Dashiell Hammett

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

The Continental Op is a short, squat, and utterly unsentimental tank of a private detective. Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett is young, wealthy, and a devotee of morphine and religious cults. She has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying violently. Is Gabrielle the victim of a family curse? Or is the truth about her weirder and infinitely more dangerous? The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op's most bizarre cases, and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.

©1928, 1929 Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2011 AudioGo

A Literary IMPOSSIBLE bottle.

I think Dashiell Hammett made this novel into a type of literary impossible bottle. I admire his work, and generally followed the puzzled steps, but at the end just think he went a strata too deep. Don't get me wrong, I DO love Hammett and liked this book a lot. It just isn't in the same class as: Red Harvest, The Thin Man or The Maltese Falcon.

Hard-boiled Classic

The adaptation from short stories to novel makes it feel like such, but I could not stop listening.

Complex plot but slow paced

Semed like three novellas stitched togerher. Almost lost interest in the last third but getting to the end was worth the wait.

A Noir Classic

An atmospheric prohibition era detective novel with an incredibly complex plot. The essence is the authentic period dialog and the world weary detective following a maze of crimes. This novel is a precursor to so many 1950's detective novels.

fine

What a story and so well narrated. I'd read it years ago. This really enhanced my appreciation for the work.