Arson Plus

This is the first story of the seven-story cycle of Dashiell Hammett’s detective novels and stories under the overall title “The Continental Op.”
First published in the magazine “Black Mask” in October 1923 under the pseudonym Peter Collinson.
An unnamed detective for the Continental agency investigates the arson of a country house.
Who struck a match—and why? Was it a spiteful neighbor, an angry servant, or the very owner of the house, seen at the window just a moment before the fire swallowed him? In the rubble of the destroyed house, the Continental agent finds that nothing burns more fiercely than greed.