Return of the Maltese Falcon

De: Max Allan Collins

Narrado por: Dan John Miller

THE GREATEST PRIVATE EYE OF ALL TIME RETURNS TO FINISH THE JOB

Legendary mystery writer Dashiell Hammett only wrote one novel about detective Sam Spade: The Maltese Falcon, the most famous private eye story ever told. But the case was never really solved—the priceless golden, bejeweled bird that men and women had been dying to possess turned out to be a fake.

Now, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Max Allan Collins (author of Road to Perdition) brings closure to this crime classic, reuniting all the surviving members of the original cast alongside femme fatales, crooked collectors, and greedy gangsters for one more thrilling, deadly chase through the streets, wharves, morgues, bars, and back alleys of 1920s San Francisco—and finally answers the question, Whatever became of the Maltese falcon…?

©2026 Max Allan Collins (P)2026 Recorded Books

A phenomenal sequel to the classic hard boiled novel

The writing was spot on- a bit modernized but purposefully and perfectly so- only MAC could have achieved this balance. Likewise, the narration by Dan John Miller was icing on the cake. Hopefully this will not be the last time they bring Sam Spade back to life!

True to the original

I thought the writing was true to the original form and I enjoyed the extension of the original story

A real hot mess

What one could imagine a Dundy fever dream would be, in the aftermath of the original novel: The little that Dundy understands.. the names, places, deaths are inexorably tethered to his inability to reason, to use logic, to detect.. The falcon and the cast of characters entangled in the original drama, swirl around Dundy like a rush of night fog that swirls around a billboard above Stockton Street.. but the lieutenant is unable to grasp it (like the Return author), unable to grasp the truth of the original.

If you were to swallow every red herring, from the original novel, that is served up as pickled in Return, then sprinkle the ashtray remains of scorched Bull Durham tobacco, incinerated notepad scribblings and like detritus onto a rolling paper, roll it and smoke it, you would have a sense of what it was like to take in this shallow, irreverent, unthoughtful and unclever attempt at putting a second fedora on a masterpiece.

I want my money back

Uninspired & ultimately nonsensical

Very lightweight & uninspired attempt. Wrong author for an attempt like this; maybe just leave the Maltese Icon alone. Not to mention a plot mistake that’s destroys entire logic of the story. (Think about British museum man & the ID on package at train station). Researching San Fran & throwing in name checks occasionally creates no sense of reality. No attempt at noir stylistically with some rather clunky writing. And if you a want a game: count number of times Spade & others cigarettes & cigars are mentioned; & count number of times Spade’s V facial elements are filtered in—it’s as if Collins took opening description from original Falcon & decided he was going to overuse it to point of parody, like the cigarettes.