Red Harvest (Dashiell Hammett)

Red Harvest is a hard-boiled detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, first published in 1929. Set in the corrupt and violent town of Personville—aptly nicknamed “Poisonville”—the story follows an unnamed detective from the Continental Detective Agency, known only as the Continental Op. Called in to clean up the city, the Op finds himself entangled in a brutal web of deceit, crime, and double-crosses.

As he pits gangsters, crooked cops, and corrupt politicians against one another, the Op unleashes a storm of chaos that leaves a trail of blood in its wake. With its lean, unsentimental prose and relentless pace, Red Harvest is a classic of the noir genre and a scathing critique of capitalism, corruption, and moral decay.

Widely considered a precursor to modern crime fiction, Red Harvest helped define the American noir style and cemented Hammett’s reputation as a master of gritty, realistic storytelling.