New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. First edition. First state, with "seep" for "sleep" on p. 209, line 17. A Very Good+ copy, lacking the dust jacket. Publisher's green cloth with dark blue mask design, red border, and red-and-blue stamped spine. Cloth faded. Some foxing to closed edges of text block and some toning to endpapers. Contemporary ink ownership signature (Louise C. Downing) to upper pastedown. Spotting to pp. 54-55.

The Thin Man, a detective story featuring the sleuthing couple Nick and Nora Charles, was Dashiell Hammett's final novel. Like Hammett's previous novels, including The Maltese Falcon, the book was extremely popular, and was quickly adapted into a film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Hammett, who is now regarded as the master of the hardboiled detective novel, drew on his own experiences working for the notorious Pinkerton Detective Agency to craft his iconic characters. “Although Hammett neither founded nor originated a new style or school of detective fiction, he was the best writer in the 'hard-boiled' style, and he became master of the school. Raymond Chandler remains the most worthy of his successors” (Roger Stoddard, in The Book Collector, Spring 1962). Very Good + (Item #8108)