Continental Op Stories · Chapter
The House in Turk Street explained
The Continental Op, canvassing a Turk Street block for a suspect, is invited into the home of the elderly Quarres, who seem kindly but are later revealed to be part of a criminal mob.
What happens
The Continental Op, canvassing a Turk Street block for a suspect, is invited into the home of the elderly Quarres, who seem kindly but are later revealed to be part of a criminal mob. The chapter details the badger game scheme run by Tai Choon, Hook, and the red-haired girl Elvira, culminating in a tense standoff where the Op refuses to trade bonds for the girl. The Quarres burst in with revolvers, exposing their true vicious nature and accusing Tai of a frame-up.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Identity
The Op's false story, the Quarres' benign facade hiding criminality, and the mob's use of aliases and roles.
Crime and Detection
The Op's investigation of the badger game, the murder of the messenger, and the pursuit of the bonds.
Violence and Survival
The murder of the Los Angeles boy, the threat of torture, and the armed confrontation with the Quarres.
Characters to notice
- The Continental Op
Canvasses Turk Street undercover, drinks tea with the Quarres, later negotiates with Tai Choon and is tied up by Elvira.
- Tai Choon
The Chinese cook and brains of the mob; holds the Op at gunpoint, proposes a trade, and is confronted by Mrs. Quarre.
- Billie
The red-haired girl Elvira; lures victims for the badger game, ties up the Op, and is offered in exchange for bonds.
- Mr. Hook
The irate husband role in the badger game; killed the Los Angeles messenger and is dead by the chapter's end.
- Mrs. Ringgo
Referred to as Mrs. Quarre; the seemingly fragile old woman who reveals herself as a vicious witch with a revolver.
- Papadopoulos
Mentioned as the old man Thomas Quarre; appears with a cocked revolver alongside his wife.
Key passages
“I had been told that the man for whom I was hunting lived in a certain Turk Street block, but my informant hadn’t been able to give me his house number.”
The Op was searching for a man on Turk Street but only knew the block, not the exact address.
Sets up the chapter's premise of door-to-door canvassing.
“I bought a newspaper that told me most of what I wanted to know. A boy of twenty—a messenger in the employ of a Los Angeles stock and bond house—had disappeared two days before, while on his way to a bank with a wad of Liberty Bonds.”
After leaving the house, the Op reads about a murdered messenger who had stolen Liberty Bonds.
Reveals the crime that the mob is connected to.
“I knew it was a frame-up! I knew this supposed detective was a pal of yours! I knew it was just a scheme to beat Thomas and me out of our shares!”
Mrs. Quarre accuses Tai of conspiring with the detective to cheat her and her husband out of their cut.
Highlights the betrayal and greed within the mob.