The Thin Man
Ratings31
Average rating3.9
Detective and mystery stories. Ex-detective Nick Charles plans to spend a quiet Christmas holed up in a hotel suite with his glamorous wife Nora, their pet Schnauzer and a case of good Scotch. But then a bullet-riddled corpse and a missing inventor (not to mention the attentions of a beautiful young woman) force him out of retirement and back into business. Trying to make sense of false leads, suspicious alibis and mistaken identities, Nick and Nora are thrown into a world of gangsters, hoodlums and speakeasies, where no-one can be trusted. Dashiell Hammett was credited with inventing the hardboiled crime novel, and this story of murder and mayhem in Manhattan, with its breakneck plot, snappy dialogue and the hard-drinking, wisecracking couple Nick and Nora, is one of his most thrillingly enjoyable mysteries. Set among the speakeasies of early 1930s Manhattan, The Thin Man is hard-boiled crime at its wisecracking best.
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Hammett invented the hard boiled detective novel but The Thin Man is a slightly different beast. Nick Charles has married wealthy Nora and given up his life as a detective, but old acquaintances call on his expertise during a trip to New York.
There's murder, double dealing, lies and some larger-than-life characters in this short novel. The plot (who killed someone and where is Clyde Wynant) is convoluted and there are a myriad of suspects. But what really sparkles is the repartee between Nick and Nora. There's not enough of it which is why the movie adaptation played up that aspect to great effect.
A solid read then, by one of the masters of detective fiction. But do watch the film, if you haven't already. It's actually better than the book.
Hardly recognisable as the work of the man who wrote The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest. Deftly executed,light-hearted, slightly self-mocking, but always entertaining. A feat of frightening versatility from the master of the hard-boiled.
