Order of Dashiell Hammett Books
Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was an American author of hardboiled crime fiction. He is best known for creating the characters Sam Spade, Nick & Nora Charles and the Continental Op. Before becoming an author, Hammett was a Pinkerton agent, which he drew upon as an author. He said, “all my characters were based on people I’ve known personally, or known about.” Although he died in 1961, his career was over in 1934. He dedicated the remainder of his life to left-wing activism and anti-fascism.
Dashiell Hammett’s first published story was The Gatewood Caper, published in 1923. His first novel was Red Harvest, published in 1929. His final novel, The Thin Man, was published in 1934. All of his novels were originally published in 3-to-5 part serials in pulp magazines. Below is a list of Dashiell Hammett’s books in order of when they were originally published:
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Red Harvest | (1929) |    |
| The Dain Curse | (1929) | |
| The Maltese Falcon | (1930) | |
| The Glass Key | (1931) | |
| Woman In The Dark | (1933) | |
| The Thin Man | (1934) | |
| They Can Only Hang You Once | (1944) | |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| The Hunter | (2013) | |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
| The Adventures of Sam Spade and Other Stories | (1944) | |
| A Man Called Spade | (1944) | |
| Hammett Homicides | (1946) | |
| Dead Yellow Woman | (1947) | |
| Creeping Siamese and Other Stories | (1950) | |
| Nightmare Town and Other Stories | (1950) | |
| The Big Knockover | (1966) | |
| The Continental Op | (1974) | |
| Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories and Other Writings | (2001) | |
| Dashiell Hammett: A Retrospective Anthology | (2004) | |
| Vintage Hammett | (2005) | |
| Lost Stories | (2005) | |
| Return of the Thin Man | (2012) | |
| The Hunter and Other Stories | (2013) | |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett: 1921-1960 | (2002) | |
| The Crime Wave | (2007) | |
Publication Order of Selected Shorts Books
| Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs | (1998) | |
| Selected Shorts: Fictions for Our Times: Listener Favorites Old & New | (2004) | |
| Selected Shorts: Lots of Laughs 18 | (2005) | |
| Selected Shorts: Timeless Classics | (2006) | |
| Selected Shorts: Baseball | (2006) | |
| Selected Shorts: Falling in Love | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Food Fictions | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Travel Tales A Celebration Of The Short Story | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Tales of Betrayal | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Family Matters | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Wartime Lives | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Pets! | (2007) | |
| Selected Shorts: Are We There Yet? | (2008) | |
| Selected Shorts: Wondrous Women | (2008) | |
| Selected Shorts: Readers & Writers | (2008) | |
| Selected Shorts: For Better and for Worse | (2008) | |
| Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic | (2009) | |
| Selected Shorts: The William Hurt Collection | (2009) | |
| Selected Shorts: Whodunit? | (2009) | |
| Selected Shorts: American Classics | (2010) | |
| Selected Shorts: New American Stories | (2011) | |
| Selected Shorts: Behaving Badly | (2013) | |
| Selected Shorts: Funny Business | (2014) | |
| An audio anthology series. | ||
Publication Order of Anthologies
| Red Brain and Other Thrillers | (1961) | |
| Breakdown and Other Thrillers | (1968) | |
| Tales of Mystery | (1986) | |
| City Sleuths and Tough Guys | (1989) | |
| The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century | (2000) | |
| San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics | (2009) | |
| Books to Die For | (2012) | |
| Creeps by Night | (2020) | |
Notes: The Big Knockover was also published as $106,000 Blood Money. Lost Stories also contains contributions by Vince Emery and Joe Gores. Creeps by Night was also published as Modern Tales of Horror.
If You Like Dashiell Hammett Books, You’ll Love…
Shop Worldwide: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca