The narrative work of Hammett consists of 8 novels and at least two hundred novellas and short stories. With "Red Harvest" (1927), he established himself, while "The Maltese Falcon" (1929) - considered his masterpiece - is his most famous novel.

The "splendid Dash" - as his admirers called him - the most important victim of McCarthyism, the man who could discuss in an exciting way about the most diverse things: Judaism, the architecture of New Orleans, plasma, corn hybrids, Marx and Engels, weapons manufacturers in 19th century Germany... he will be literally kidnapped by the cinema after 1930, and until 1940 he will have two periods of stay in Hollywood, where, with his stories, he will become one of the pillars of the great American film Noir of that time, but also the pioneer of the renewal of the aesthetics of animation...

17 films have been made based on his stories.

Hammett is the first to bring gangsters and their world into literature. He is the founder of modern Noir literature and the first to write stories that breathe at the pace of a film. For American literature, he is the younger "Jack London".

In this edition, the following novellas are presented:

- The secret of the safe
"The secret of the safe" (First published in the magazine Black Mask in August 1929)
- The house in Turk street
"The house in Turk street" (First published in the magazine Black Mask in April 1924)
- Meat and knife
"A knife will cut for anybody" (Unpublished while Hammett was alive. Published in 2013)