Tribute to the founders of the genre (1)

Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler said he has "released the crime of a Venetian vase and threw in the alley," meaning the rupture introduced by the founder of "hard boiled" (literally "tough guy") with English detective novels - and sleuths hunt for clues in refined circles.
But Chandler says, "a man must descend into the shallows is not itself a low man who is neither corrupted nor frightened" ...
Ned Beaumont, the hero of "The Glass Key" is itself such a man.
This player will take foolish risks to try to protect his friend and patron Paul Madvig, the most influential man in town.
In this novel, the themes intersect and intertwine, served by a minimalist writing, which further reinforces the difficulty of decrypting messages: ethics and personal bravery, friendship, love, ambiguity of politics, corruption, gangsterism, gambling ...
An exciting novel, on the same terms as the other two masterpieces of Dashiell Hammett: "Red Harvest" and "The Maltese Falcon".