THE MALTESE FALCON (1930) set the standard by which the private eye genre is judged. 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?
Dashiell Hammett . . . is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer.
The Boston Globe The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we have ever read, it is an exceedingly well written novel.
The Times Literary Supplement (London)
Hammett s prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are] as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction.
The New York Times"
-Dashiell Hammett . . . is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer.- -
The Boston Globe -
The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we have ever read, it is an exceedingly well written novel.- -
The Times Literary Supplement (London)
-Hammett's prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are] as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction.- -
The New York Times"Dashiell Hammett . . . is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer." -
The Boston Globe "
The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we have ever read, it is an exceedingly well written novel." -
The Times Literary Supplement (London)
"Hammett's prose [is] clean and entirely unique. His characters [are] as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction." -
The New York Times
