The Glass Key

The Glass Key is the fourth of seminal crime writer Dashiell Hammett's five oft-celebrated novels. Written in 1931, it is often said to be the peak of his work as a writer and was believed by Hammett to be his best novel. Hammett is probably best remembered for writing the novels The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, both memorably adapted for film in Hollywood's golden era. Even today, more than 70 years later, The Glass Key remains a snappy and indelibly modern piece of hardboiled detective fiction.

Ned Beaumont (always referred to in the text by his full name, whilst other characters are referred to either by their first or last names), is the right-hand man of a corrupt political boss named Paul Madvig. Madvig has pretensions towards the big time, and is heavily involved with the family of Senator Henry (he is backing the senator politically and intends to marry the senator's daughter). When the Senator's son, Taylor Henry, is found dead in the street by Ned Beaumont, it begins to look bad for Madvig... Beaumont refuses to acknowledge that his boss could be responsible for the murder though, and sets about investigating it in his own laid-back and deceptively careless manner.

In Ned Beaumont, Hammett creates a memorably cynical and sickly (and unlikely) hero. Ned Beaumont gambles, drinks, mocks, takes a few beatings, and uses unscrupulous means to get what's owed to him. But underneath it all ticks an undying loyalty to his friend and boss, Paul Madvig. Despite the novel's seedier elements of casual corruption, crime, and manipulation, Hammett is telling a story of honour amongst thieves - Ned Beaumont retains an inner goodness despite the world he lives and operates in, and the lengths he goes to for his friend speaks volumes about what Hammett places importance on. It's a dirty world we live in, but we can hold a little brightness in it despite our sins and the sins of others.

The Glass Key really impressed me... I was surprised when I learnt how long ago it had been written, the dialogue and prose is really quite crisp and sharp and it seems miles away from other novels of the era (ala The Great Gatsby). It's the sort of novel that defines the word 'hardboiled', and it's easy to see why Hammett was such an influence on his contemporaries (EG. Raymond Chandler). I didn't really see any of the various twists coming, the novel has a kind of elliptical feel to it as Ned Beaumont goes about his everyday business, chasing up seemingly unconnected subplots and shrewdly bumbling from punch to punch. This is a good piece of left-field detective fiction, I really enjoyed it and I look forward to reading Hammett's other novels.

TRIVIA: The Glass Key awards are named after this novel. The awards are based in Scandanavia and have been going since 1992, the award is an actual glass key and is presented to a different nordic writer each year for the best crime novel.