Tue 11 Apr 2017
Stories I’m Reading: DASHIELL HAMMETT “The Tenth Clew.”
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[5] Comments
DASHIELL HAMMETT “The Tenth Clew.” Continental Op short story #6. First published in Black Mask, January 1, 1924. Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1945; revised ending. Also, among others: The Return of the Continental Op (Jonathan Press #J17, paperback, 1945; Dell #154, paperback, 1947); The Continental Op (Vintage V-2013, paperback; November 1975; edited by Steven Marcus); all with the original ending.
“The Tenth Clew” (or “Clue,” as it is on the front cover of the magazine) is the lead story of the latter collection, which I happened to notice in a box of paperbacks I was going through and decided to read. It’s been a while since I read anything by Hammett, and long since time, I decided, that I should.
I’d forgotten, though, that Mike Nevins had made a point of talking about this story in his June 2011 column for this blog. When I got to the end of what was otherwise a very enjoyable story, I was taken aback and asked myself what it was that I’d missed.
It turns out that it was a major mistake by Hammett and his editor way back in 1924, one that Fred Dannay fixed when he ran the story in EQMM some twenty years later, but then reverted back to the original ending most if not all of its appearances since.
Since Mike did such a good job in discussing it, I won’t talk about it here, as I’d intended to. Go read about it in that old column of his, then by all means come back. Let me talk about this instead.
I don’t claim that the thought is original to me, and I’m sure it isn’t, but it’s worth bringing up again. It occurred to me that Hammett may have been having some fun with the readers of this story, which reads from the very beginning as a straight-forward detective mystery, complete with clues — nine of them, in fact, duly noted by the Op and O’Gar, the detective sergeant assigned to the case.
Unfortunately the clues, very confusing in and of themselves, also do not lead anywhere, including the fact that the victim was killed by being hit over the head by a typewriter. The Op’s conclusion? The tenth clew? That the other nine clues do not mean anything, and he proceeds to solve the case by assuming exactly that.
So much for the puzzle stories of Agatha Christie and the like. I’m no purist, and I enjoyed this one, even with the botched up ending.
April 12th, 2017 at 3:26 pm
Hammett had his light side, and when it came out he used it very enjoyably indeed.
April 12th, 2017 at 3:35 pm
A sharp wit is what I’d call what he had, and sometimes he used it when the reader wasn’t always expecting it.
April 16th, 2017 at 3:18 am
I suspect Hammett was commenting on the fair play school, and pulling the reader’s leg. Also, he was a good enough investigator in life to know most real clues lead nowhere and the solution often drops on your head — like a typewriter.
April 16th, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Yes, pulling the reader’s leg and being realistic too. That’s a good point
I wish I had access to my reference books on Hammett. I’d like to know what discussion there’s been about the ending, besides what Mike Nevins had to say about it. I’ve been trying to think if there’s any way Hammett was being subtle about something that I’ve missed so far, but I haven’t come up with anything that satisfies me yet.
Sometimes mistakes are only mistakes.
March 4th, 2021 at 12:12 pm
I don’t think Hammett made a mistake. I think the probate court accepted the unsigned will in its draft form, because it was clearly the intent of the deceased, as his lawyer would testify. The man would have signed it the next day, but instead was killed the night before. The killer was involved in a provable New York scam, and so had a clear motive for the killing….the scam would not be discovered. So what he said would not be creditable, whereas the woman’s story would be, since she is now respectable, and cooperative with police.