The Maltese Falcon

Dashiell Hammett

1929 • 165 pages

Ratings138

Average rating3.8

Classic noir. Private detective Sam Spade is hired to search for a valuable, gem-encrusted antique in the shape of a falcon.

Sam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and when Spade's partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby's trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him?

Genres

Mood

dark

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Joseph Zizza

I enjoy the novels of [b:Raymond Chandler 2052 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AGA624Z5L.SL75.jpg 1222673], but for me THIS is the best hard-boiled private eye novel ever. Hammett's laconic style, his punchy dialogue and his concise and driving storytelling make this the standard to measure all others against.

September 16, 2008

Blue sky, green trees.

anticlimactic.

June 7, 2009

Gary

Wow! I love mystery noir novels, and I've read a lot of great ones but this one has become my favourite. Sam Spade is such a great character and Hammett's prose is exquisite. Highly recommended!

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