A cornerstone of American detective fiction, The Maltese Falcon introduces private investigator Sam Spade, a hard-edged, morally ambiguous hero navigating a web of lies, greed, and murder. When a mysterious woman hires Spade to find her missing sister, he’s pulled into a dangerous hunt for a priceless artifact—the legendary Maltese Falcon. With its razor-sharp dialogue and atmospheric realism, Hammett’s novel defined the hardboiled genre and set the standard for noir storytelling.
Editorial Reviews
“Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is not only a classic detective story; it’s a classic American novel, period.” —The New York Times Book Review
“The hardboiled style begins and ends with Dashiell Hammett. His work gave crime fiction its modern form.” —Raymond Chandler
About the Author
Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) was an American author and former Pinkerton detective whose groundbreaking crime fiction reshaped the genre. Known for his spare prose and moral complexity, Hammett created iconic characters like Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles. His novels—The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and Red Harvest—influenced generations of writers and filmmakers, establishing him as a central figure in twentieth-century American literature.
