Samuel Dashil Hammett (1894-1961) is one of the most popular American writers, a classic of the detective genre, the creator of the literary direction, later called "cool detective". The works of this author are characterized by a dynamic development of the plot, which keeps the reader in constant tension, not allowing a single moment to distract from the book. The first volume of the Works includes a collection of stories united by a single hero, a tireless fighter against crime - "the opera from the "Continental" . He is also the main character in the brilliant dilogy about the gangsters “Big Bang” and “106,000 per head”.