The Continental Op had come to Personville (called Poisonville by the characters in the book) at the request of Donald Willsson, the editor of the local newspaper, to investigate and clear up the corruption in the city. Donald Willsson was murdered before the Op even had a chance to talk to him. So the Continental Opp went to visit Elihu Willsson, Donald's father. Elihu in the past had controlled the city. He owned the Personville Mining Company, the First National Bank, the newspapers. a US senator, two representatives, the governor and the mayor, and a few other things. When a strike developed at the mine, Elihu called in hired thugs to break it up. They did end the strike and when it was over, they took over the city.
For a payment of ten thousand dollars, the Continental Op told Elihu that he would continue with what Donald wanted him to do. Elihu paid up and the Continental Op took on Pete the Finn, Lou Yard, and Max Thaler who with the help of Noonan, the chief of police, were running the illegal businesses in the city. The Op made friends with Dinah Brand, a rather slovenly woman, who was mixed up in all this in someway or other. She seemed quite willing to tell the Continental Op about the goings on in the city.
So here we have the set up for one man to tackle the crime, corruption, and violence in Poisonville. He would call in two other operatives from the Continental Detective Agency, but he was still in charge of the investigation, and he knew that the boss of the agency would not approve of what he was doing. It is remarkable that a movie was never made of this book, but I see that it is supposed to be the basis for Kurosawa's movie Yojimbo. There was far too much violence and bloodshed in this book for me. I did enjoy Hammett's writing; he had a wonderful way of turning a phrase.
No comments:
Post a Comment