# Dinah Brand — Red Harvest character guide > Dinah Brand in Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Dinah, Brand, III Dinah Brand, Miss Brand **First appearance:** 0004-iii-dinah-brand ## Snapshot A sharp, hard-drinking woman who takes her pick of Poisonville's men and keeps a sick lunger named Dan Rolff under her roof like a pet. ## Who they are Dinah lives in a cluttered gray cottage on Hurricane Street, trading information and affection with gangsters, radicals, and cops, always with an eye on what the transaction is worth to her. She keeps Dan Rolff, a tubercular down-and-outer, as a dependent and errand boy, slapping him in front of company even as he loves her. Her murder with an ice pick becomes the crime that pulls the narrator deeper into Personville's tangle, and the list of people who might have wanted her dead is almost as long as her list of lovers. ## In the story ### [I: A Woman in Green and a Man in Gray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/i-a-woman-in-green-and-a-man-in-gray) Mentioned by Bill Quint as part of the corrupt network, though not directly appearing. ### [III: Dinah Brand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/iii-dinah-brand) The central figure of the chapter; a 'soiled dove' and 'deluxe hustler' who received a $5,000 check from Donald Willsson and deposited it after his murder. She is described as mercenary yet charismatic, with a history of manipulating men. ### [IV: Hurricane Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/iv-hurricane-street) Introduced in her cluttered home; she is flirtatious, mercenary, and reveals she sold damaging information to Donald Willsson as a joke. ### [VI: Whisper's Joint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/vi-whisper-s-joint) Referenced as having relayed the narrator's warning to Thaler, influencing Thaler's trust. ### [VII: That’s Why I Sewed You Up](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/vii-that-s-why-i-sewed-you-up) Referenced as the object of Albury's obsession and the catalyst for the murder. ### [VIII: A Tip on Kid Cooper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/viii-a-tip-on-kid-cooper) Calls the narrator to arrange a meeting with Thaler; lounges at home, indifferent to the narrator's stubbornness. ### [IX: A Black Knife](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/ix-a-black-knife) Attends the fight with Dan Rolff, bets on Bush after the Narrator's tip, and is anxious about her money. ### [X: Crime Wanted—Male or Female](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/x-crime-wanted-male-or-female) Drives the narrator, confronts Thaler, profits from the fight, agrees to help the narrator, and physically assaults Dan Rolff. ### [XI: The Swell Spoon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xi-the-swell-spoon) Provides the narrator with detailed information about the murder of Tim Noonan, including the bribery of MacSwain and Myrtle Jennison's involvement. ### [XIII: —$200.10—](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xiii-200-10) Dinah initially tries to protect Thaler, then assists the narrator by restraining Rolff, and later expresses rage at the betrayal. ### [XIV: Max](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xiv-max) Mentioned as the source of the tip-off about Whisper; narrator asks Noonan to keep her out of it. ### [XV: Cedar Hill Inn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xv-cedar-hill-inn) Phones the narrator, plans to meet him for money. ### [XVI: Exit Jerry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xvi-exit-jerry) Visits the narrator's room, discusses the bank robbery and Cedar Hill Inn attack, tries to sell information, and proposes a scheme involving Lew Yard's card. ### [XVII: Reno](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xvii-reno) Accompanies the narrator, expresses fear of Max Thaler, drives the car to rescue Reno Starkey. ### [XVIII: Painter Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xviii-painter-street) The narrator visits her home; she begs him to get Max Thaler, expressing fear of him. ### [XX: Laudanum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xx-laudanum) Offers the narrator gin and tries to calm him, but he accuses her of stirring up murderous notions in her boyfriends. ### [XXI: The Seventeenth Murder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xxi-the-seventeenth-murder) Found dead, stabbed with her own ice pick; the narrator wipes the handle and examines the scene. ### [XXII: The Ice Pick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xxii-the-ice-pick) Found dead in her dining room, stabbed with an ice pick; her house was ransacked. ### [XXVI: Blackmail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xxvi-blackmail) Her murder is discussed; the narrator theorizes that Shepp and Vanaman looted her room and took the letters. ### [XXVII: Warehouses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/chapters/xxvii-warehouses) Referenced in Reno's confession as the victim he killed with an ice pick. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/characters/dinah_brand - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/red_harvest_se/characters