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''The Glass Key'' is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published as a serial in Black Mask in 1930, then was collected in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later), and tells the story of gambler and racketeer Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to crooked political boss Paul Madvig leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a potential gang war brews. Hammett dedicated the novel to onetime lover Nell Martin. There have been two US film adaptations (1935 and 1942) of the novel (plus one in USSR/Estonia in 1985). A radio adaptation starring Orson Welles aired on March 10, 1939 as part of his ''Campbell Playhouse'' program.〔(The Mercury Theatre on the Air )〕 The book was also a major influence on the Coen brothers 1990 film ''Miller's Crossing'', a film about a gambler who is a right hand man to a corrupt political boss and their involvement in a brewing gang war. The "Glass Key award" (Swedish: ''Glasnyckeln'') is named after the novel and has been presented annually since 1992 for the best crime novel by a Scandinavian author. ==Plot summary== The story revolves around Ned Beaumont, a gambler and best friend of the criminal boss Paul Madvig. Ned finds the body of a Senator’s son on the street and Madvig asks him to thwart the D.A.'s investigation, his motive being he wants to back the corrupt senator in order to marry his daughter, Janet. Ned goes to New York searching for Bernie, a bookie who owes him a great deal of money from a gambling debt but ends up getting beaten up. Meanwhile someone sends a series of letters to people close to the crime, hinting that Madvig was the murderer. Suspicion for this falls on Madvig's daughter Opal, the victim's girlfriend. Madvig's political base begins to crumble, when he refuses to spring a follower's brother from jail. The follower goes to rival mob boss Shad O'Rory, who eliminates a witness to the brother's crime. Madvig then declares war on O'Rory, who offers to bribe Beaumont to expose Madvig in the newspaper. Beaumont refuses, is knocked unconscious and wakes captive in a dingy room where he is beaten daily. Hospitalized after his escape, Beaumont tells Madvig and Janet that he was laying a trap for O'Rory; he then struggles out of bed to stop the newspaper from printing its expose. Beaumont confronts O'Rory, the publisher, and Madvig's daughter Opal. The publisher commits suicide, after Beaumont seduces his wife. Next Beaumont interviews Janet, discovering that she wrote the letters and that the Senator knew about the murder, before Beaumont found the body. A new clue points to Madvig and when confronted he confesses but he cannot account for the victim's hat, a detail Beaumont pointedly repeats throughout the novel. This impasse and Beaumont's growing interest in Janet, Madvig's love interest, cause a second rift between the men. Beaumont and Janet pair up to solve the murder. Beaumont uncovers evidence proving the senator killed his own son and turns him over to the police. Beaumont confronts Madvig with his new discovery and the two depart, not enemies but no longer friends. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Glass Key」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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