In 1915, a young Dashiell Hammett joined the Pinkerton National Detective Agency as a secret operative. Nathan Ward's luminous biography delves into Hammett's seven-year stint with Pinkerton to shed light on how a kid who dropped out of school at thirteen and contracted tuberculosis in World War I nonetheless forged an acclaimed career as one of America's finest "hard-boiled" crime writers. Infused with fascinating bits of history, details tracing the evolution of the mystery genre, and the true stories of people in Hammett's life who wound up in his books, The Lost Detective creates an exhilarating portrait of a storyteller extraordinaire.