The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
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Random House (New York): 1933. Trade paperback: 201 pages. ISBN-10: 0-679-72263-7 Suggested retail price: $11.95 (US) Tags: 1930s; alcoholism; Crime; detectives; made into movie; murder; Mystery; pistols; police investigations Tactical strength: [6/10] |
I came to The Thin Man through the Warner Brothers movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy. My wife and I really like the Thin Man movies, and I decided to try the original novel by Dashiell Hammett. Surprisingly, the movie script takes most of its dialogue directly from the novel, but the movie amplifies the comedy and glamour aspects and downplays the dark side of the characters involved.
At one time Nick Charles worked as a detective for a private agency in New York City. Nick quit the agency when he married Nora, and the couple moved to San Francisco, where Nick now manages the fortune Nora inherited from her father. For a vacation, Nick and Nora decide to spend the Christmas holidays back in New York City. In spite of the prohibition on alcohol, the Charleses have no trouble finding and drinking copious amounts of liquor and seem to want to remain "tight" during their entire vacation. When the mistress of Clyde Wynant gets killed, the Wynant family comes to Nick for help. Nick had helped the Wynants with some threats against Clyde years before, but Nick declines to pick up the case about the murdered mistress. By mere association with the Wynants, unsavory characters involved in the case assume Nick has taken on the investigation, and one thug even forces his way into the Charles' bedroom at gunpoint. With an assault on his life, Nick starts to investigate on his own. From a hardboiled detective story, I expected several shootouts and fist fights, but interestingly, Nick really only interviews numerous suspects and lets the police do most of the dirty work. The police round up suspects, stake out the crime scenes, and dig up dead bodies. Without much of a change of pace or climax, Nick puts all the pieces together and identifies the murderer. (The movie stages a more typical round up the suspects in a room scene for Nick to reveal the perpetrator.)
It seems that in Hammett's world, that only money indicates class differences. The richest and the poorest characters seem motivated by the same basic instincts: money and sex. Hammett also shows that even the richest characters cannot escape interacting with seedy characters of the underworld. Since prohibition made just about everyone a criminal, perhaps the barrier separating classes wore a bit thin. Nick never seems to understand these facts intrinsically, enabling him to suspect the worst from just about everyone and solve the crime based on his understanding of base human nature.
The Thin Man reads like a stage play with almost all dialogue and very little action. In fact, all the murders take place off stage. For a hardboiled detective, Nick only punches two people: Nora (to get her out of the line of fire) and the murderer in the final scene. Nick does get shot in his apartment, but only receives a minor flesh wound. In spite of the lack of physical movement, Hammett keeps your interest with his excellent dialogue. Nick and Nora travel from one party to another, and ach conversation reveals something new about the case that changes how you look at a situation or character. I do appreciate that Hammett allows the reader to see all the information that Nick receives -- he doesn't reveal any hidden information at the last moment. And Nick somehow manages to solve the crime while almost completely plastered throughout the two days over which the events take place.
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