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Overview
A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers.
Sam Spade, a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics, stars in Hammett's cooly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted 2 generations of readers.
Synopsis
The quintessential hard-boiled detective, Hammett's Sam Spade is faced with a mystery that verges on the unraveling of everything he knows. A beautiful woman spins a tale of betrayal and backstabbing surrounding a mysterious black bird statue, and engages Spade's services in trying to retrieve it. But where does her lying end and the truth begin? And all the while, the police are after Spade for the murder of his partner Miles Archer--a murder that, somehow, Spade's client is bound up in. Hammett's tale of one man's search for order and truth is as close to a perfect mystery novel as anyone is going to get, and often rises above the genre as a tightly-constructed literary masterpiece, rich in both character and plot.
New York Times Book Review
If the locution 'hard-boiled' had not already been coined it would be necessary to coin it now to describe the characters of Dashiell Hammett's latest detective story. . . there is plenty of excitement. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, February 1930
Editorials
From the Publisher
“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
New York Times Book Review
If the locution 'hard-boiled' had not already been coined it would be necessary to coin it now to describe the characters of Dashiell Hammett's latest detective story. . . there is plenty of excitement. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, February 1930Publishers Weekly
The classic noir story is given new life with this full-cast adaptation. When a damsel in distress steps into Sam Spade's office spinning a yarn of a kidnapped sister and shady older man, Spade is doubtful but intrigued. Soon, he's pulled into an international hunt for a bird made of gold that leaves a trail of dead bodies, including his partner. Michael Madsen initially comes on a bit strong as Spade with a tone and growl that goes beyond previous renditions, but by the end, he has appreciatively mellowed. The supporting cast (including Sandra Oh and Edward Herrmann) are fine but unmemorable. The sound effects fading in and out of the production prove so subtle that it's often hard to determine if one is hearing them from the story or from the real world. The occasional musical score is reminiscent of old-time radio and used sparingly. A Vintage paperback. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
This full-cast audio dramatization of Hammett's 1930 pulp fiction best seller features performances by actors Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrmann. Each narrator reads not only his/her character's lines but the narration associated with that character as well; the resulting abrupt switches can be distracting. The music and other secondary production effects, however, are unobtrusive. A very enjoyable version of a genre classic that is recommended for all popular fiction collections. [Audio clip available through
—I. Pour-El