Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammetts Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Ops one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hel Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammetts Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Ops one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hells acre in the Arizona desert, and the bank job to end all bank jobs, along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor, Bluepoint Vance, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.