#427 An Inch and a Half of Glory- Dashiell Hammett

#427 An Inch and a Half of Glory- Dashiell Hammett

The building was on fire, and everyone stood outside waiting for the fire trucks. It wasn’t a huge fire. Earl Parish saw a boys face appear in a window above the fire. He didn’t look scared, but Parish after much thought decided to go into the building before the fire trucks arrived to bring to boy out.

Although never in danger, the act was heroic and his name appeared in the papers the next day as saving the child from the fire. The notice was an inch and a half. He humbly accepted praise the next day and life went on.

“There had been nothing heroic—about his going into the smoking building: he had brought the child down not as one would snatch it from peril, but as one would protect it from awareness of peril. Nevertheless, it was pleasant to lie across his bed knowing that people throughout the city had read of what he had done, that his acquaintances thought him a man of courage.”

With time, people forgot about the act and his courage not spoken of often. This caused him resentment, it had become the most important part of his life. When people forget the defining part of your life, you feel you have no definition. He longed for more recognition and it ruined his life.

Rating: 7-7-7-7 Total= 28

#379 Magic- Dashiell Hammett

#379 Magic- Dashiell Hammett

Strait was a magician. He could do many things to amaze the eyes. But…”it’s love and wealth they want, no matter which variety of those things may be popular for a while. Twice perhaps in twenty years I have been asked for wisdom, twice it may be for happiness, once I can remember for beauty.”

So, his magic is to give people these material desires…however he admits to his apprentice that he is a charlatan, a fake, a very good one. The mind belives what it wants to believe, if the show is good enough, fate may show itself.

“Strait snorted at the idea that the authenticity of his work was to be measured by its consequences…Equal results, far greater results have been achieved by wizards whose methods were the nadir of idiocy. Indubitable marvels have been worked at one time or another by means of almost anything you can name, so long as it was a thing offensive or ridiculous enough of itself.”

Just because he didn’t perform real magic didn’t mean he didn’t achieve real results, and didn’t mean he didn’t work for his reputation.

Rating: 7-7-6-6 Total= 36

#348 A Throne for the Worm- Dashiell Hammett

#348 A Throne for the Worm- Dashiell Hammett

Elmer Kipp is a deferential man, giving in quickly and without complaint to other's demands and complaints no matter how menial or degrading. This perhaps made him lower than those around him, like a worm. His throne was the barber’s chair, where once a month on payday he would go and be attended to, striking a confident dapper figure in the mirror.

Whatever gets you through this life is often little pleasures.

Rating: 7-7-6-6 Total= 26

#336 Fragments of Justice- Dashiell Hammett

#336 Fragments of Justice- Dashiell Hammett

Three men completely different from each other sit on a jury. One man old and addled just wants to feel important one more time; the second an old world protestant, who’s crowning achievement in life was quitting his social club after they let in a Jew, wants the world to be like it was; and the third is a beaten down man that just wants someone else to be punished.

Hammett tales are often a “long-standing interest in the ways in which men struggle to find their places among each other and in the world…” This is one of those. It was not published during his lifetime.

Rating: 6-6-5-5 Total= 22

#315 Action and the Quiz Kid- Dashiell Hammett

#315 Action and the Quiz Kid- Dashiell Hammett

Action was a pool shooting, cigarette smoking, eighteen year old city kid. He walked the street with a swagger and he was admired for his style. But style was all he had. He was a bad gambler and never seemed to get ahead of his bad run of luck.

When things turned particularly bad, he started to take advantage of a younger kid who worshipped Action. He made bets for this kid or pretended to at least and stole his bank role. Bad gamblers make bad choices, some that you can’t take back.

Short story, not much here but a quick read.

Rating: 7-7-6-5 Total= 25

#294 The Diamond Wager- Dashiell Hammett

#294 The Diamond Wager- Dashiell Hammett

Who doesn’t like a story about a Jewelry heist? Written in a classic Hammett style, is not so much a whodunit as much as a how’d-he-do-it? We learn early on that Alexander West stole Diamonds worth four-million francs from his friend Berthier, owner of the oldest and most respected Jewel houses. They made a wager that Berthier wouldn’t fall prey to thieves and scams, that he was much smarter and careful than the other houses.

We know that West was successful in his robbery and thus won the bet. The story is him recounting the details of how it was done.  I wont spoil the mystery, it’s worth the read.

8-7-7-7 Total= 29