"Zigzags of Treachery" is a hard-boiled story by Dashiell Hammett featuring his unnamed, legendary detective known as the Continental Op.

The book is set in San Francisco, where the Op is hired to investigate the suspicious death of Dr. Estep, a respected surgeon with a secretive past. What begins as a murder inquiry quickly becomes a tangled case of false identities, blackmail, and shifting loyalties.

The story's lean prose, sharp dialogue, and gritty urban atmosphere create a tense, unsentimental mystery in which nearly everyone is hiding something.

One of Hammett's best-loved and most exciting Continental Op stories, "Zigzags of Treachery" is presented here in its original and unabridged format.