The Dain Curse

The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett is a fiction, mystery first published in 1929. Its central concerns include secrecy, evidence, motive, and the difficult search for truth, approached through the possibilities of fiction, mystery. As part of a series, the book also contributes to a larger imaginative or narrative design while retaining its own identity. Form and tone matter throughout, with a carefully controlled structure that rewards attention to detail and shifting suspicion. At roughly 70,942 words with an easy reading profile, it offers a reading commitment that is easy to judge before beginning while still leaving room for close attention. Readers still return to it because of its role in shaping the pleasures and conventions of detective and suspense fiction. Readers drawn to fiction, mystery and secrecy will find a work that combines a distinct period voice with questions that remain recognizable today. The Dain Curse therefore works both as an encounter with Dashiell Hammett’s individual voice and as an example of the wider literary tradition surrounding fiction, mystery.