The Thin Man By: Dashiell Hammett

Plot:

Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett’s most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

Review:

I was looking for a mystery solved by a married couple and Nick and Nora were what came up when I searched. I liked the Maltese Falcon, years ago when I read it, and I’ve always wanted to read more Dashiell Hammett, so decided why not? Sadly it didn’t quiet scratch that itch.

Nick was definitely the main character in this story, with Nora being barely more than a side character. She did overhear some information that helped solve the mystery, but I was disappointed in her small role in the story. Since it was written in the thirties I shouldn’t have expected anything more, but I was, I think I’m going to try one of the movies and see if they’re better.

The language was really interesting and at times confusing since I’m not up on my thirties slang. By the end of the book I understood what was going on, but there were some parts in the beginning where I thought I was reading in a foreign language. Times have changed a lot, at least where it applies to language.

For the most part I enjoyed the story, I wasn’t able to guess who done it, though I did figure out a part of the story involving the murder that wasn’t revealed until the end. My main complaints were the depiction of women in the story, but that’s just the way things were back then.

3/5