The Maltese Falcon

De: Dashiell Hammett

Narrado por: Robertson Dean

The definitive masterpiece of the hard-boiled detective genre, The Maltese Falcon first appeared in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929 and was almost immediately acknowledged as not only a great crime novel but an enduring masterpiece of American fiction.

Tough, cynical PI Sam Spade - a man who, as his creator explained, is "able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with" - is hired by the story's irresistible femme fatale, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, to locate the client's sister by tailing her companion. Spade's partner, Miles Archer, takes on the assignment, and quickly both he and the man he was shadowing are murdered. As Spade pursues the mystery of his partner's death, he is drawn into a circle of colorful characters - all of them after a legendary statuette of a falcon fashioned long ago for King Charles of Spain.

Made of gold and encrusted with jewels, the falcon is worth a fortune. Missing for centuries, it resurfaced in Paris in 1911, covered in black enamel to disguise its value, and then disappeared again until it was traced to Constantinople - and now, it would seem, to Spade's own backyard.

©2018 Dashiell Hammett (P)2018 Blackstone Publishing

A classic

I’ve heard about this book and this author for a long time and of course I saw the movie. This was exactly what I expected.....even a little more hard boiled.

Classic

The best work of detective fiction ever. Totally engaging from the get go. Emotional, engaging, conflicted, dangerous, and breathtaking. Sam Spade, Miles Archer, Brigid Shaunessy, Gutman, Joel Cairo, Vilmer, Effie are all still alive and well. Sad, heroic. Well written, well narrated.

Not the detective you’d expect

This story Is great. The detective does all the things that the best story book detectives do and he also does all the things they never do. Sam spade is a super interesting character. I highly recommend reading this story it will keep you guessing until the very end.

There’s a reason why this is a classic

I picked up this title on a bit of a whim. I’ve never seen the movie, but I grew up in San Francisco. It just felt like a good idea as a bit of a diversion.

Wow, what a great decision.

The book is gripping from start to finish. It has all the feel of a 1920s Detective story. There are plenty of twists, and turns to the book, with the usual climactic ending.

Dean's narration is spot on. I don’t know what Sam Spade would really sound like, but I would say that Dean has him down cold.

Interesting

This work was interesting in some aspects but also somewhat boring. It needed more action.