The Dain Curse

The Dain Curse is a novel written by Dashiell Hammett and published in 1929. The detective known only as The Continental Op investigates a diamond heist that looks like an inside job. He is told of a supposed curse on the Dain family, said to inflict sudden and violent deaths upon those in their vicinity. Young Gabrielle Leggett (whose mother was a Dain), equally involved in a mysterious cult and a morphine addiction, soon turns up missing – maki... more

The Dain Curse is a novel written by Dashiell Hammett and published in 1929. The detective known only as The Continental Op investigates a diamond heist that looks like an inside job. He is told of a supposed curse on the Dain family, said to inflict sudden and violent deaths upon those in their vicinity. Young Gabrielle Leggett (whose mother was a Dain), equally involved in a mysterious cult and a morphine addiction, soon turns up missing – making her the most likely culprit. But her father has some skeletons in the closet, and nothing is what it seems in this strange, occultish family. The detective untangles a web of robberies, spells, and human sacrifices on his way to a solution to the puzzle. The novel was adapted into a TV miniseries in 1978 by director E.W. Swackhamer starring James Coburn, Hector Elizondo, Jean Simmons, Jason Miller, Nancy Addison (As Gabriella), and in a brief part, a pre-Star Trek Brent Spiner. The Mini-series was a handsomely mounted production (for... less