# Continental Op Stories — Character guide

> Key figures in Continental Op Stories by Dashiell Hammett.

- [The Continental Op](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/narrator.md): He works for the Continental Detective Agency, taking whatever case the Old Man hands him and burrowing into other people's lives with the patience of a man who has learned that most crimes are solved by waiting. In one 
- [Colonel Einarson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/colonel_einarson.md): Einarson moves through the revolutionary intrigue of a Muravian port with the ease of a man who has learned to make patriotism pay, arranging a public shooting to look like a soldier's private vengeance. When the Op quie
- [Jack Counihan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/jack_counihan.md): Counihan drifts through the Gilmore murder case as a name that keeps turning up in the wrong rooms — connected to the dead man's politics, his money, and the woman he was supposed to have given up. He is the kind of figu
- [Jacob Ledwich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/jacob_ledwich.md): Ledwich is the man the police want for the Boyd killing, and when the Op finally sits down with him, he tells a story about a disgraced young doctor, a forged diploma, and a friendship that curdled into something worse. 
- [Bernard Gilmore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/bernard_gilmore.md): Gilmore is the murdered man whose widow hires the Op — a boisterous, hard-hitting rowdy with a manicure, mixed up in city contracts, a rumored bootlegging syndicate, and at least one woman besides his wife. He was shot o
- [Burke Pangburn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/burke_pangburn.md): Pangburn is the respectable man in the middle of a crooked triangle: a lawyer whose sister married into money, who falls for a woman with a Los Angeles warrant on her and a blackmailer named Fag on her trail. When she ne
- [Babe McCloor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/babe_mccloor.md): A hard-eyed gangster who'd rather throw a punch than take one, Babe McCloor keeps score in a world where grudges outlive the men who hold them.
- [Stanley Gorham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/stanley_gorham.md): Stanley Tennant, the assistant city engineer, wears respectability like a coat — and underneath it, a past he'll lie, bruise, and bleed to keep buried.
- [Tom Carey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/tom_carey.md): Tom-Tom Carey drives the getaway car with a wisecrack ready and a cold eye for the man beside him, a veteran operative who knows exactly how much fog a job needs.
- [Cara Kenbrook](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/cara_kenbrook.md): The woman a murdered man's wife calls 'that sort of person,' Cara Kenbrook is the name whispered in a boudoir — and the alibi nobody wants to check.
- [Lionel Grantham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/lionel_grantham.md): Lionel Grantham bankrolled a revolution and got himself crowned for it, a nervous young king whose throne is worth exactly what someone will pay him to leave it.
- [Red O'Leary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/red_oleary.md): Red O'Leary has a big fist, a short fuse, and a girl he wants out of the room before the trouble he keeps inviting finally arrives.
- [Joe Wales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/joe_wales.md): Wales is the brains of the crew the Op stumbles into, the one whose drawling British calm cuts through Hook's threats and hot temper. Where Hook wants to shoot the intruder, Wales calculates: killing a Continental operat
- [Theodore Kavalov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/theodore_kavalov.md): Kavalov is the wreck at the center of a strange standoff, a once-orderly man who combs his hair before shaving and now cannot be bribed or joked with. Ringgo, who handled him in Cairo, admits he has lost his grip on him,
- [The Whosis Kid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/whosis_kid.md): The Kid is a robbery specialist, which makes him worth the Continental's time, and the Op tails him from a fight through lunch rooms and streetcars to a dingy Golden Gate Avenue rooming house. He is cautious, alone, and 
- [Peery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/peery.md): Peery belongs to the working network of detectives and cops the Op relies on, the kind of colleague who shows up when a case turns violent and the paperwork has to be sorted afterward. He is less a rival than a peer, som
- [Bluepoint Vance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/bluepoint_vance.md): Vance is a criminal with a taste for needling, and his drawled complaints about laundry bills are really a demand for money O'Leary refuses to pay. When O'Leary punches him across a table, Vance comes up cool and busines
- [Pat Reddy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/pat_reddy.md): Reddy is a fellow detective who fights beside the Op in a dark house full of gunmen, taking down a red-silk assassin on the stairs and chasing Elwood into the blackness below. He is quick, physical, and a little impatien
- [Detective Sergeant O'Gar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/detective_sergeant_ogar.md): O'Gar works the Hall of Justice side of the Op's cases, the man you phone at home when a murder needs cleaning up and a patrolman needs producing. He recognizes Tennant with a lifted eyebrow, mutters 'What the hell is al
- [Angel Grace Cardigan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/angel_grace_cardigan.md): The Angel runs with Big Flora's crowd and carries the knowledge that Flora's troupe killed her Paddy, a debt she won't trade to the law. Pulled half-drowned from the water and shadowed by the Op's men, she refuses to tal
- [Hugh Sherry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/hugh_sherry.md): Sherry surfaces in Lillian Shan's library as 'Jack,' a clean-cut presence she vouches for and the Op immediately distrusts. He's been seen leaving a cellar connected to Chang Li Ching's house, and the ex-convict Conyers 
- [Dick Foley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/dick_foley.md): Foley is the Op's reliable second set of eyes, the man who tails The Whistler from Big Fat Thomson's to the Glenway and back, and who gets handed the swarthy shadower when the Op needs Carey's tail turned inside out. He 
- [Big Flora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/big_flora.md): Flora Brace ran with the troupe that rubbed out Paddy the Angel's man, and she's now in the can awaiting trial on other charges. She bargains for her own comfort, offering to talk only if talking makes things easier for 
- [Guy Cudner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/guy_cudner.md): Cudner is the shadow the Op's men keep losing, out at night with a man, home at four, a bad break for anyone trying to tail him off. He moves through the case as a name on a list and a shape in a doorway, the sort of sus
- [Porky Grout](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/porky_grout.md): Grout moves through the shadow economy of favors and betrayals, the kind of man who knows which doors open for a price and which names buy silence. His willingness to cover a getaway while others run suggests a code that
- [Daniel Rathbone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/daniel_rathbone.md): Rathbone leaves behind a drained trust account, a taxi driver he stiffed, and at least two women who measure their answers carefully. His disappearance pulls the Continental Op through hotels, baggage rooms, and apartmen
- [Harvey Gatewood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/harvey_gatewood.md): Gatewood belongs to the class of men whose influence makes police cautious and witnesses forgetful, the kind of power that turns a simple killing into a question of whose reputation is worth protecting. His wealth and po
- [Lillian Shan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/lillian_shan.md): Lillian Shan moves between two worlds, trusted enough by her schoolmates and family to open doors the Op cannot, yet vulnerable to the men who circle her with false affection. When the Op warns her that a suitor may be a
- [Billie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/billie.md): A character who meets a tragic end, often a victim of violence.
- [Mr. Hook](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mr_hook.md): A criminal or shady figure operating in the underworld.
- [Sue Hambleton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/sue_hambleton.md): A woman involved in a family dispute over inheritance and murder.
- [Bardell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/bardell.md): A corpulent criminal or informant, often providing comic relief.
- [Tai Choon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/tai_choon.md): A Chinese character involved in the Chinatown underworld.
- [Norman Ashcraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/norman_ashcraft.md): A man and his wife involved in a case of blackmail and murder.
- [Chang Li Ching](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/chang_li_ching.md): A powerful Chinese figure in the criminal underworld.
- [Vasilije Djudakovich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/vasilije_djudakovich.md): A foreign revolutionary involved in a plot to overthrow a government.
- [Mrs. Gilmore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mrs_gilmore.md): The wife of Bernard Gilmore, involved in family secrets.
- [Jack Garthorne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/jack_garthorne.md): A young man caught up in a murder investigation.
- [Kelly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/kelly.md): A large, intimidating criminal or enforcer.
- [Inés Almad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/ines_almad.md): A frightening and mysterious woman involved in criminal activities.
- [Madden Dexter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/madden_dexter.md): A wealthy man whose family is embroiled in a murder case.
- [Audrey Gatewood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/audrey_gatewood.md): The daughter of Harvey Gatewood, involved in a love affair and murder.
- [John Boyd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/john_boyd.md): A detective or operative working with the Op.
- [Kewpie Gooseneck](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/kewpie_gooseneck.md): A criminal with a distinctive nickname, involved in theft.
- [Papadopoulos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/papadopoulos.md): A foreign character involved in a criminal enterprise.
- [Hsiu Hsiu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/hsiu_hsiu.md): A Chinese woman involved in the Chinatown underworld.
- [Mrs. Ringgo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mrs_ringgo.md): A woman involved in a case of murder and family secrets.
- [Vance Richmond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/vance_richmond.md): A man involved in a complex case of theft and murder.
- [Slim Vogel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/slim_vogel.md): A criminal who meets a tragic end.
- [Charles Gantvoort](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/charles_gantvoort.md): A man whose murder is a central mystery in a story.
- [Bob Teal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/bob_teal.md): A fellow operative from the Continental Detective Agency.
- [Mr. Axford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mr_axford.md): A police officer or detective assisting in investigations.
- [The Whistler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/the_whistler.md): A mysterious criminal known for whistling, a recurring figure.
- [Edouard Maurois](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/edouard_maurois.md): A Frenchman involved in a criminal scheme.
- [Black Marcus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/black_marcus.md): A criminal with a dark complexion, involved in underworld activities.
- [Nancy Regan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/nancy_regan.md): A woman involved in a case of murder and intrigue.
- [Captain Sherry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/captain_sherry.md): A police captain involved in investigations.
- [Mark Nisbet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mark_nisbet.md): A man involved in a case of blackmail and murder.
- [Romaine Frankl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/romaine_frankl.md): A woman involved in a romantic subplot and criminal activities.
- [Raymond Elwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/raymond_elwood.md): A man whose death is investigated by the Op.
- [Mickey Linehan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mickey_linehan.md): A fellow operative from the Continental Detective Agency.
- [Creda Dexter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/creda_dexter.md): A woman involved in a family murder case.
- [Mrs. Estep](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mrs_estep.md): A woman involved in a case of murder and family secrets.
- [Hilary Gallaway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/hilary_gallaway.md): A man involved in a case of theft and murder.
- [Mr. Kilcourse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mr_kilcourse.md): A man involved in a criminal scheme.
- [Mr. Tennant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/mr_tennant.md): A man whose identity is tied to a murder case.
- [Gyp Rainey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/gyp_rainey.md): A criminal involved in underworld activities.
- [Lieutenant Duff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/lieutenant_duff.md): A police lieutenant involved in investigations.
- [Dr. Humbert Estep](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/dr_humbert_estep.md): A doctor involved in a case of murder and family secrets.
- [Edward Bohannon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/edward_bohannon.md): A man involved in a criminal investigation.
- [Clio Landes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters/clio_landes.md): A woman involved in a case of murder and intrigue.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/continental_op_stories_se/characters