The Glass Key Av Dashiell Hammett

<p>Corruption, murder, beauty and innocence . . . '<b>Great crime fiction started with Hammett' James Ellroy</b><br><br><b>'Not just the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best' THE TIMES</b><br><br>Ned Beaumont is a tall, thin, moustache-wearing, TB-ridden, drinking, gambling, hanger-on to the political boss of a corrupt Eastern city.<br><br>Nevertheless, like every Hammett hero (and like Hammett himself), he has an unbreakable, if idiosyncratic, moral code. Ned's boss wants to better himself with a thoroughbred senator's daughter; but does he want it badly enough to commit murder? If he's innocent, who wants him in the frame? Beaumont must find out.</p>