Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

Hammett, Dashiell. Red Harvest. 1929. New York: Vintage, 1992.

“I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte. He also called his shirt a shoit.” These opening lines of Red Harvest are the first time the Continental Op will make a joke of Personville, and it’s the only funny one. The city is poison, run by criminals in every sector. They were brought in by the mining company to break the union, and now the head of the company is ready to be rid of them. The Continental Op is the man for the job.

He does it by turning the leaders of the various gangs, including the corrupt police department, against each other. Cozy relationships give way to war. Even the Continental Op becomes infected. He’s not above bending the rules, but he finds himself taking a bloodthirsty joy from the vengeful mayhem.



The lead character doesn’t have a name, but he is a prototypical hardboiled detective, written by an author who made the mold many others have used. He is tough, smart, aggressive, willing to do what it takes. He has a sense of justice, but doesn’t think it is always found in the justice system. In the Continental Op’s world of 1920’s California, police and court corruption are rampant. That goes double for Personville.

Violence and corruption are the theme of the book. It’s a story with roots deep in selfishness and pride. No one is above breaking the law to serve his or her own interests. The sins of one man beget a host of others. The sad conclusion is that a violence and deception is needed to break a violent and corrupt system, pushing into collapsing on itself.

Of course, no one picks up this book expecting a sweet romance of good overcoming evil. When, in closing, the Continental Op says Personville “was developing into a sweet-smelling thornless bed of roses,” one suspects he is speaking with the same dark, ironic humor with which he started the tale.