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* PunchClockHero: The Op is a professional through and through. He catches bad guys because it's what he's paid to do, simple as that.
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* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Hammett actually had the good grace to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] and [[JustifedTrope justify]] it in one story, with the Op himself pointing out that since he has a tendency to naturally shoot where he looks at this tends to happen every once in a while - because in a gunfight he naturally finds himself looking at the other guy's gun. He does note it looks impressive if you don't know all that.
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* BritishAccent: Tai Choon Tau in "The House on Turk Street" speaks fluent English with a posh Received Pronunciation accent (and since the Op hears him before he sees him, it gives him a surprise).
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* BritishAccent: UsefulNotes/BritishAccents: Tai Choon Tau in "The House on Turk Street" speaks fluent English with a posh Received Pronunciation accent (and since the Op hears him before he sees him, it gives him a surprise).
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* BritishAccents: Tai Choon Tau in "The House on Turk Street" speaks fluent English with a posh Received Pronunciation accent (and since the Op hears him before he sees him, it gives him a surprise).
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* BritishAccents: BritishAccent: Tai Choon Tau in "The House on Turk Street" speaks fluent English with a posh Received Pronunciation accent (and since the Op hears him before he sees him, it gives him a surprise).
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* BritishAccents: Tai Choon Tau in "The House on Turk Street" speaks fluent English with a posh Received Pronunciation accent (and since the Op hears him before he sees him, it gives him a surprise).
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* AllGirlsLikeBadBoys: Nancy Regan in "The Big Knockover" fell for Red O'Leary due to this; it comes back to bite ehr in her pretty little ass in this story and especially "$106,000 Blood Money".
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* AllGirlsLikeBadBoys: AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Nancy Regan in "The Big Knockover" fell for Red O'Leary due to this; it comes back to bite ehr her in her pretty little ass in this story and especially "$106,000 Blood Money".
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* AllGirlsLikeBadBoys: Nancy Regan in "The Big Knockover" fell for Red O'Leary due to this; it comes back to bite ehr in her pretty little ass in this story and especially "$106,000 Blood Money".
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* FakeAlibi: Lampshaded in "The Girl with the Silver Eyes". [[spoiler:The Op's client winds up murdered just in front of a speakeasy, and the Op suspects either "Tin-Star" Joplin, Fag Kilcourse, or Jeane Delano did it--but Porky Grout, his [[TheStoolPigeon informant]], claims all three of them were on the back porch when the murder happened. The Op half-suspects that Porky is lying to provide the killer an alibi, but also knows that if he presses the issue, a dozen of Joplin's cronies will also lie to strengthen their boss's alibi.]]
-->[[spoiler:But there was this about it: if Joplin, Kilcourse, or the girl had [...] fixed my informant, then it was hopeless for me to try to prove that they weren't on the rear porch when the shot was fired. Joplin had a crowd of hangers-on who would swear to anything he told them without batting an eye. There would be a dozen supposed witnesses to their presence on the rear porch.]]
-->[[spoiler:But there was this about it: if Joplin, Kilcourse, or the girl had [...] fixed my informant, then it was hopeless for me to try to prove that they weren't on the rear porch when the shot was fired. Joplin had a crowd of hangers-on who would swear to anything he told them without batting an eye. There would be a dozen supposed witnesses to their presence on the rear porch.]]
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* BookedFullOfMooks: "The Big Knockover" provides a rare third-party perspective on this maneuver. In the aftermath of a massive bank robbery, the Continental Op tails the gangster Red O'Leary, suspected to be close to the ringleaders of the operation. O'Leary goes into a nightclub with his girlfriend, and the Op follows. As the club fills up with other customers at an unusually early hour, the Op notices how few women there are, how the other tables are occupied by "rat-faced men, hatched-faced men, square-jawed men"—who are all keeping an eye on O'Leary. The Op realizes that these are all the lower-rung gangsters who participated in the robbery and got screwed out of their share of the cash, and now they suspect O'Leary knows where the money is. Red O'Leary also realizes exactly what's happening—and sticks around anyway because he's headstrong and [[TooDumbToLive foolish enough to think he can take them all on]]. Sure enough, the leader of the angry gangsters, Bluepoint Vance, is the last to arrive, and when the discussion between him and O'Leary breaks down, all the others attack. The Op intervenes to get O'Leary out alive, cursing his foolishness at every step of the way.
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When the Op gets captured by Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover", he makes an uneasy alliance with an old Greek man who claims to also be Big Flora's prisoner, and who schemes with the Op for both of them to escape. The Op figures out straight away that this old man is up to more than he's letting on, but can't figure out what his game really is--and in any case he has no choice but to the play along, because otherwise Big Flora is going to kill him. [[spoiler:Only after they get away does the Op find out the old man is actually Papadopoulos, TheManBehindTheMan of the recent massive bank robbery. And the Op helped him both escape the police and leave his accomplices behind to take the fall for him.]]
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When the Op gets captured by Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover", he makes an uneasy alliance with an old Greek man who claims to also be Big Flora's prisoner, and who schemes with the Op for both of them to escape. The Op figures out straight away that this old man is up to more than he's letting on, but can't figure out what his game really is--and in any case he has no choice but to the play along, because otherwise Big Flora is going to kill him. [[spoiler:Only after they get away does the Op find out the old man is actually Papadopoulos, TheManBehindTheMan of the recent massive bank robbery. And the Op helped him both escape the police and leave his accomplices behind to take the fall for him.]]
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* AlasPoorVillain: "This King Business" concludes with [[spoiler:Colonel Einarson]] getting torn apart by a mob of his own soldiers. The Continental Op hates mob justice on principle and can't help but sympathize with the villain (while comparing the mob to a pack of wild animals) even after acknowledging this guy needed to die.
* DoWithHimAsYouWill: In "This King Business", how the Minister of Police deals with [[spoiler:Colonel Einarson]]. He presents a letter proving that [[spoiler:Einarson]] murdered the beloved previous leader of the revolution, then throws him to the soldiers he had terrorized up to this point. Those soldiers descend on him and tear him apart--the Op guesses the man must have died within half a minute.
* {{Omnibus}}: The 2017 compilation ''The Big Book of the Continental Op'' (published by Vintage Crime / Black Lizard) is the first to collect ''all'' of Hammett's Continental Op stories, in their original unabridged form. This also includes unpublished stories, and the original serialized versions of ''Red Harvest'' and ''The Dain Curse''. It's over 700 pages long.
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* {{Ruritania}}: "This King Business" is a weird genre hybrid that puts the hard-boiled detective into a ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda''-style plot.
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* {{Ruritania}}: "This King Business" is a weird genre hybrid that puts the hard-boiled detective into a ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda''-style plot. It's set in the Balkan nation of Muravia, a mostly agricultural state formed in the aftermath of World War I because none of its neighbors--Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia--particularly wanted the land, but also couldn't stand to see their rivals get it.
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* HiddenWeapons: Also attributed to Chinese gangsters by the Op.
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* HiddenWeapons: Also attributed to Chinese gangsters by the Op. For example, in "The House in Turk Street":
-->The Chinese are a thorough people; if one of them carries a gun at all, he usually carries two or three or more. (I remember picking up one in Oakland during the last Tong war, who had five on him--one under each armpit, one on each hip, and one in his waistband.) One gun had been taken from Tai, and if they tried to truss him up without frisking him, there was likely to be fireworks.
-->The Chinese are a thorough people; if one of them carries a gun at all, he usually carries two or three or more. (I remember picking up one in Oakland during the last Tong war, who had five on him--one under each armpit, one on each hip, and one in his waistband.) One gun had been taken from Tai, and if they tried to truss him up without frisking him, there was likely to be fireworks.
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* MoreDakka: Another stereotype the Op attributes to Chinese gangsters. In "The House in Turk Street":
-->Once more Tai ran true to racial form. When a Chinese shoots, he keeps on shooting until his gun is empty.\\
When I yanked Tai over backwards by his fat throat, and slammed him to the floor, his guns were still barking metal; and they clicked empty as I got a knee on one of his arms.
-->Once more Tai ran true to racial form. When a Chinese shoots, he keeps on shooting until his gun is empty.\\
When I yanked Tai over backwards by his fat throat, and slammed him to the floor, his guns were still barking metal; and they clicked empty as I got a knee on one of his arms.
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* StealthSequel: "The Girl with the Silver Eyes" is about the search for a missing fiancee, Jeane Delano. When the Op finally finds her, he recognizes her as [[spoiler:Elvira, the FemmeFatale who escaped at the end of "The House in Turk Street"]].
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When the Op gets captured by Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover", he falls in with an old Greek man who claims to also be Big Flora's prisoner, and schemes with the Op for both of them to escape. The Op figures out straight away that this old man is up to more than he's letting on, but can't figure out what his game really is--and in any case he has no choice but to the play along, because otherwise Big Flora is going to kill him. [[spoiler:Only after they get away does the Op find out the old man is actually Papadopoulos, TheManBehindTheMan of the recent massive bank robbery. And the Op helped him both escape the police and leave his accomplices behind to take the fall for him.]]
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When the Op gets captured by Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover", he falls in makes an uneasy alliance with an old Greek man who claims to also be Big Flora's prisoner, and who schemes with the Op for both of them to escape. The Op figures out straight away that this old man is up to more than he's letting on, but can't figure out what his game really is--and in any case he has no choice but to the play along, because otherwise Big Flora is going to kill him. [[spoiler:Only after they get away does the Op find out the old man is actually Papadopoulos, TheManBehindTheMan of the recent massive bank robbery. And the Op helped him both escape the police and leave his accomplices behind to take the fall for him.]]
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* HonorAmongThieves: The concept is thoroughly mocked in "The Big Knockover" and "$106,000 Blood Money". The minor crook Angel Grace Cardigan sincerely believes in a code of honor amongst thieves, one that includes never cooperating with the law. Everyone else regards her as a self-destructive case of HonorBeforeReason--especially when she refuses to cooperate with the police or the Continental Detective Agency, even though they have a common enemy.
-->"You know what'll happen if she learns you're stringing along with me?"\\
"Uh-huh. She'll chuck a convulsion--kind of balmy on the subject of keeping clear of the police, isn't she?"\\
"She is--somebody told her something about honor among thieves once and she's never got over it. Her brother's doing a hitch up north right now -- Johnny the Plumber sold him out. Her man Paddy was mowed down by his pals. Did either of those things wake her up? Not a chance. She'd rather have Papadopoulos go free than join forces with us."
-->"You know what'll happen if she learns you're stringing along with me?"\\
"Uh-huh. She'll chuck a convulsion--kind of balmy on the subject of keeping clear of the police, isn't she?"\\
"She is--somebody told her something about honor among thieves once and she's never got over it. Her brother's doing a hitch up north right now -- Johnny the Plumber sold him out. Her man Paddy was mowed down by his pals. Did either of those things wake her up? Not a chance. She'd rather have Papadopoulos go free than join forces with us."
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When the Op gets captured by Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover", he falls in with an old Greek man who claims to also be Big Flora's prisoner, and schemes with the Op for both of them to escape. The Op figures out straight away that this old man is up to more than he's letting on, but can't figure out what his game really is--and in any case he has no choice but to the play along, because otherwise Big Flora is going to kill him. [[spoiler:Only after they get away does the Op find out the old man is actually Papadopoulos, TheManBehindTheMan of the recent massive bank robbery. And the Op helped him both escape the police and leave his accomplices behind to take the fall for him.]]
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* HandyCuffs: In "$106,000 Blood Money," a crook with his hands handcuffed in front of him is able to grab a cop's gun from its holster and shoot at one of his accomplices. Justified as it was written in the 1920s before handcuffing procedures were standardized.
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* HandyCuffs: In "$106,000 Blood Money," "The Big Knockover," a crook with his hands handcuffed in front of him is able to grab a cop's gun from its holster and shoot at one of his accomplices. Justified as it was written in the 1920s before handcuffing procedures were standardized.
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* NotSoDifferentRemark: At the end of "$106,000 Blood Money", the Op directly compares himself to the BigBad of the story: "'Yeah,' I said sourly, 'I'm another Papadopoulos.'" [[spoiler:Specifically, Papadopoulous had organized a massive bank robbery--then arranged for all the robbers (excepting his inner circle) to kill each other, so he could keep more of the money for himself. So the Continental Op raided Papadopoulous's hideout, with a team including a cooperative criminal and a Continental agent who's actually [[TheMole a mole]]--then the Op arranged for the criminal to kill the mole, then get killed himself.]]
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* AmazonianBeauty: Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover"; the Op describes her as "broad-shouldered, deep-bosomed, thick-armed, with a pink throat that for all its smoothness was muscled like a wrestler's."
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* BigBeautifulWoman: Big Flora Brace in "The Big Knockover," though she's more muscular than many of her type.
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%%* RailingKill: "The Scorched Face."
%%* RoguesGallery: The gang of hoods from "The Big Knockover."
%%* RoguesGallery: The gang of hoods from "The Big Knockover."
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%%* TakingOverTheTown: "The Gutting of Couffignal"
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* HandyCuffs: In "$106,000 Blood Money," a crook with his hands handcuffed in front of him is able to grab a cop's gun from its holster and shoot one of his accomplices. Justified as it was written in the 1920s before handcuffing procedures were standardized.
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* HandyCuffs: In "$106,000 Blood Money," a crook with his hands handcuffed in front of him is able to grab a cop's gun from its holster and shoot at one of his accomplices. Justified as it was written in the 1920s before handcuffing procedures were standardized.
