occupation sam spade
Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27 , 1894  January 10 , 1961 ) was an American ___MASK95___ of hard - boiled detective novels and short stories , screenwriter , and political ___MASK41___ . Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (" The Maltese Falcon "), Nick and Nora Charles (" The Thin Man "), and the Continental Op (" Red Harvest " and " The Dain Curse "). A protagonist is the main character in any story , such as a ___MASK23___ work or drama . The Continental Op is a fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett . He is a ___MASK77___ employed as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency ' s San Francisco office . His name is never mentioned in any story . The Dain Curse is a novel by Dashiell Hammett , published in 1929 . Before its publication in ___MASK17___ form , it was serialized in " Black Mask " magazine in 1928 and 1929 . Sam Spade is a fictional private ___MASK79___ and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett ' s 1930 novel , The Maltese Falcon . Spade also appeared in three lesser - known short stories by Hammett . The Maltese Falcon , first published as a serial in the pulp magazine Black Mask , is the only full - length novel in which Spade appears . The character , however , is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard - boiled private ___MASK79___ fiction -- Raymond Chandler ' s Philip Marlowe , for instance , was strongly influenced by Spade . Spade was a departure from Hammett ' s nameless and less - than - glamorous ___MASK79___ , The Continental Op . Spade combined several features of previous detectives , most notably his detached demeanor , keen eye for detail , and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice . The Thin Man ( 1934 ) is a ___MASK79___ novel by Dashiell Hammett , originally published in the December 1933 issue of " Redbook ". It appeared in book form the following month . Nick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel " The Thin Man ". The characters were later adapted for film in a series of movies between 1934 and 1947 ; for ___MASK73___ from 1941 to 1950 ; for television from 1957 through 1959 ; as a Broadway musical in 1991 ; and as a stage play in 2009 . Red Harvest ( 1929 ) is a novel by Dashiell Hammett . The story is narrated by The Continental Op , a frequent character in Hammett ' s fiction , much of which is drawn from his own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton ___MASK79___ Agency ( fictionalized as the Continental ___MASK79___ Agency ). The labor dispute in the novel was inspired by Butte ' s Anaconda Road Massacre .