Hammett

A fictional story centered around real life Dashiell Hammett, a Pinkerton agent turned famed noir fiction writer, is told. It's 1928 San Francisco. Chain smoking, hard drinking Sam, as most of his friends call him (his real given first name), has just completed his latest magazine commissioned short story. Concurrently, he receives a surprise visit from his old friend from out of town, private detective Jimmy Ryan, his mentor and arguably the inspiration for most of his nameless leading P.I. characters, requesting help on a local case, that of missing Chinese teenager Crystal Ling. Despite not wanting to get involved especially in the high probability of tussling with the local police, Sam agrees in owing Jimmy one. Sam ends up enlisting the help of his neighbor, librarian Kit Conger, who is arguably the model for the femme fatale in his stories. Even before learning more about Crystal, that information in and of itself placing her in the company of potentially dangerous people, Sam is warned to back off about trying to find Crystal, and learns in the process that several others are also looking for her. In continuing with his search, Sam ends up placing his and Kit's life in danger.