Bill,
Re your comment below:
> One interesting thing about these stories is
how
> closely the Continental
> Detective Agency works with the police. The Op
is
> treated as their equal:
> he questions the suspects with them and cues them
on
> how to act, he gives
> orders, he goes out with them chasing down clues.
I
> knew the Pinkertons
> were a big agency, but I hadn't thought of them
as
> working so intimately
> with the police. This is quite a
different
> arrangement than loner private
> eyes a few years later. Spade and Hammer and
the
> boys always battle the
> police and are treated by them with contempt
(except
> for the standard one
> friend on the force who does favours, but
> complains).
In fact, interstate wanted posters were often more likely to
be put out by the Pinkertons than by the federal government
in the early years of the 20th Century. When the federal
government finally got into interstate police work in a big
way, the nucleaus of the FBI's fingerprint identification
file was a file that had already been maintained for many
years by the Pinkerton Agency, and which was turned over to
the Bureau by the Pinkertons.
Still, in light of the way the PI story developed
post-Hammett, the Op's tight relationship with official law
enforcement is remarkable. In another story, "Corkscrew," a
town-tamer piece that is sort of a dress rehearsal for RED
HARVEST, the Op even gets himself an appointment as an
official police officer before carrying out his
assignment!
JIM DOHERTY
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