‘A cunning gleam came into his one open eye as he looked at the lighter. The gleam was not sane.’

First published in 1930 to critical acclaim, The Glass Key is Dashiell Hammett’s thrilling foray into the shady world of politics.

Ned Beaumont, a drinking, gambling man, is confidante to the most infamous criminal political boss in town: Paul Madvig. When Ned finds the body of a prominent senator’s son on the street, Madvig orders him to foil the police investigation. But as Madvig’s ambitions – and sinister methods to achieve them – come to light, Ned begins to question whether his loyalties lie in the right place. Most of all, he must find the killer, whether it is Madvig or not… Brimming with tension, moral ambiguity and sharp dialogue, Hammett shows the true cost of survival in a world rotting with corruption. With a plot packed with twists, turns, and deliciously unexpected consequences, The Glass Key cemented Hammett’s status as the king of hard-boiled crime writing.

Dashiell Hammett (1894 – 1961) was an American novelist, screenwriter and left-wing activist. He was renowned for his detective fiction and mystery writing, and had a profound influence on the hardboiled crime and noir genres. His works are consistently ranked as some of the best English-language novels from the twentieth century.