Why it's good:

Hammett is the father and master of hard boiled fiction, and this collection of short stories shows why. Most of the stories are detective mysteries, but not all. All three of Hammett's better known detectives each feature in multiple stories, and everything is nailed down in noir. This is a great example of a book being exactly what it sells itself to be.

Why it's not so good:

Its strengths become its weaknesses at times. These detective stories are the epitome of their kind, but often the scenes become too similar from one story to another and they begin to feel repetitive and bleed together at times. And personally, I don't think detective stories work as well in short fiction. Reading one after another, even when they're written by one of the best, puts the problems of fitting the genre onto the short form on full display. Still, the collection is great and worth a read.