In 1924, Dashiell Hammett - considered the father of hard-boiled detective fiction - wrote two short stories in his Continental Op series of mysteries: 'The House on Turk Street' and 'The Girl with the Silver Eyes.'

Rather than create two stand-alone stories, however, Hammett instead sends the Continental Op into a maze of stolen bonds, missing women, criminal rivalries, and lethal betrayals, all of which lead him to the mysterious, red-headed vixen named 'Elvira,' an elusive, intelligent, and dangerously charismatic woman who manipulates everyone around her while preserving her own secrets.

Elvira remains the only antagonist to appear in more than one Op tale. Together, these two stories capture Hammett's developing hard-boiled method: lean prose, sudden violence, dry humor, moral ambiguity, and a detective whose professionalism cannot entirely protect him from fascination.

This collection, dubbed 'The Continental Op and the Dangerous Dame,' presents both of these stories as they were originally published, unedited and unabridged.