The Thin Man

Hammett wrote Nick and Nora Charles as a wealthy, stylish married pair, and they are among his best-loved characters. Nick is a retired detective who now spends his days drinking and bantering with his wife, until a search for a missing inventor pulls them back into a murder case. The novel moves through a fast, witty exchange of dialogue, and its affection for the couple's marriage runs as deep as its interest in the puzzle.

The story is set in New York in the early 1930s and follows the investigation through the city's nightlife and high society. Its tone sits somewhere between a detective story and a comedy of manners, so the crime is taken seriously while the social world around it is gently mocked.