Order of Book Series
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Dashiell Hammett Books in Order

25 books are credited to Dashiell Hammett, published between 1922 and 2025; 11 of them appeared after Dashiell Hammett's death in 1961. The first book is The Barber and His Wife (1922) and the newest is The Continental Op Casebook, Vol. 1 (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
25
Published
1922–2025
Pages on record
5,388 in 16 of 25 books
Reading time
90–135 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,388 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 16 of 25 titles with a page count on record.

See all 25 books in order Printable Dashiell Hammett checklist
Photo of Dashiell Hammett, author of the Peter Collinson Short Stories/Novellas series

Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and also a screenwriter and political activist. Hammett created Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon (1930), Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man (1934), the Continental Op of Red Harvest and The Dain Curse (both 1929), and the comic strip figure Secret Agent X-9. The catalogue holds 25 titles, from The Barber and His Wife (1922) through The Glass Key (1931) to The Continental Op Casebook, Vol. 1 (2025). San Francisco, private investigators and gangs are recorded subjects.

How many Dashiell Hammett books are there?

Dashiell Hammett has 25 books, released between 1922 and 2025. 11 of them were published after Dashiell Hammett's death in 1961.

Dashiell Hammett Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 25 Dashiell Hammett books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (1929)
  2. Cover of The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett (1929)
  3. Cover of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, book 1 of the Detective Sam Spade series (1930)
  4. Cover of The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett (1931)
  5. Cover of Woman In The Dark by Dashiell Hammett (1933)
  6. Cover of The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (1934)
  7. Cover of The Big Knockover by Dashiell Hammett (1966)
  8. Cover of Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories and Other Writings by Dashiell Hammett (2001)
  9. Cover of Vintage Hammett by Dashiell Hammett (2005)
  10. Cover of Return of the Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (2012)
  11. Cover of The Hunter by Dashiell Hammett (2013)
  1. 1
    The Barber and His WifePeter Collinson Short Stories/Novellas #11922 · confirmed 2/4
    1922–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Red Harvest1929 · 216 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1929216
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Dain Curse1929 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1929256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Maltese FalconDetective Sam Spade #11930 · 217 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1930217
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Glass Key1931 · 214 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1931214
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Woman In The Dark1933 · 75 pages · confirmed 2/4
    193375
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Thin Man1934 · 201 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1934201
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 9
    A Man Called Spade1944 · confirmed 2/4
    1944–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 10
    They Can Only Hang You Once1944 · confirmed 2/4
    1944–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 11
    Hammett Homicides1946 · confirmed 2/4
    1946–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 12
    Dead Yellow Woman1947 · confirmed 2/4
    1947–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 15
    The Big Knockover1966 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1966480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 16
    The Continental Op1974 · 319 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1974319
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 17
    Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories and Other Writings2001 · 940 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2001940
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 18
    Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett: 1921-19602002 · 672 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002672
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 19
    Dashiell Hammett: A Retrospective Anthology2004 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 20
    Vintage Hammett2005 · 200 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2005200
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 21
    Lost Stories2005 · 342 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2005342
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 22
    The Crime Wave2007 · confirmed 2/4
    2007–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 23
    Return of the Thin Man2012 · 233 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012233
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 24
    The Hunter2013 · 291 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2013291
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 25
    The Continental Op Casebook, Vol. 12025 · confirmed 2/4
    2025–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Dashiell Hammett books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Peter Collinson Short Stories/Novellas

1 book

1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Detective Sam Spade in order

1 book
  1. 1. The Maltese Falcon

Standalone books

23 books

23 Dashiell Hammett titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Dashiell Hammett books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 25 Dashiell Hammett books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Dashiell Hammett

Start with The Barber and His Wife (1922), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Dashiell Hammett book?

The Continental Op Casebook, Vol. 1 (2025) is the newest Dashiell Hammett book released so far.

Is there a new Dashiell Hammett book coming?

No next Dashiell Hammett book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Dashiell Hammett at a glance

Died
Dashiell Hammett died in 1961, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Dashiell Hammett are still being published after Dashiell Hammett's death in 1961; the newest appeared in 2025.
Release pace
Dashiell Hammett books have appeared about one every 4 years on average.
Length
5,388 pages across the 16 of 25 books with a recorded length, a median of 274 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Dashiell Hammett books, 6 of 25, were published in the 2000s.

What the Dashiell Hammett books are about

16 of the 25 Dashiell Hammett books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 9 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.