Short; thick-bodied; mulishly stubborn; and indifferent to physical pain; Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Op's one enthusiasm is doing his job; and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters; a vice-ridden hell's acre in the Arizona desert; and the bank job to end all bank jobs; along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor; Bluepoint Vance; Alphabet Shorty McCoy; and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.