1894-1961. US crime novelist. His works, The
Maltese Falcon 1930, The Glass Key 1931, and
the The Thin Man 1932, introduced the
`hard-boiled' detective character into
fiction. Hammett was a former Pinkerton
detective agent. In 1951 he was imprisoned
for contempt of court for refusing to testify
during the McCarthy era of anticommunist
witch hunts. He lived with the playwright
Lillian Hellman for the latter half of his
life.