High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later), 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.