![]() Cover of the first edition | |
Author | Dashiell Hammett |
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Language | English |
Genre | Crime |
Published | 1931 (Alfred A. Knopf) |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 214 |
Preceded by | The Maltese Falcon |
Followed by | The Thin Man |
The Glass Key is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. First published as a serial in Black Mask magazine in 1930, it then was collected in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later). It tells the story of a gambler and racketeer, Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to Paul Madvig, a crooked political boss, leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a potential gang war brews. Hammett dedicated the novel to his onetime lover Nell Martin.
There have been two US film adaptations (1935 and 1942) of the novel. A radio adaptation starring Orson Welles aired on March 10, 1939, as part of his Campbell Playhouse series.[1] The book was also a major influence on the Coen brothers' 1990 film Miller's Crossing, which features a similar scenario.
The Glass Key Award (in Swedish, Glasnyckeln), named after the novel, has been presented annually since 1992 for the best crime novel by a Scandinavian writer.