Red Harvest

This damned burg’s getting me. If I don’t get away soon I’ll be going blood-simple like the natives. —The Continental Op

Red Harvest is a seminal novel by Dashiell Hammett, first published in 1929. It is narrated by The Continental Op, a recurring character in Hammett's world. The novel has had a great deal of influence on later fiction ranging from samurai films to noir.

Red Harvest is thought to have been an influence on Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo, and combined with The Glass Key is a heavy influence on Coen Brothers's noir film Miller's Crossing. Red Harvest also coined the term Blood Simple (after which the Coen Brothers' film debut is named); the phrase refers to the addled, fearful mindset people are in after a prolonged immersion in violent situations.

Red Harvest is not related to Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination.

Tropes appearing in this work are:

• Anti-Hero: The Continental Op
• Badass Driver: Dinah Brand.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Continental Op never gives his name.
• Gambit Pileup
• I Did What I Had to Do
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Poisonville.
• Mob War
• Outlaw Town
• Pinkerton Detective
• Playing Both Sides: Red Harvest actually has more than two factions in play, but...
• Pretty in Mink: The only time the Op describes Dinah as pretty is when she's wearing a fur coat.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Elihu Wilsson. Also a case of No Indoor Voice.
• The Unfettered: The Continental Op will get the crooks he's after, no matter what it takes or how many laws he has to break.
• Villainous Glutton: The only thing Dinah Brand likes more than hefty meals and drinks is money, and she'll sell her help and information to the highest bidder. Notably, she's also a Big Beautiful Vamp.