The Glass Key

Blurb

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, 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 of the novel. A radio adaptation starring Orson Welles aired on March 10, 1939 as part of his Campbell Playhouse program. 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" is named after the novel and has been presented annually since 1992 for the best crime novel by a Scandinavian author.