The Maltese Falcon - Unabridged — Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett was already a well-established hard-boiled mystery writer by the time he released what would turn out to be his masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon in 1930. But with the release of this novel, Hammett would be catapulted to the forefront of American crime writers. The novel has been adapted several times for the screen and the 1941 film version - starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor - has become a film noir classic.  The story opens in the offices of Spade and Archer, a private detective agency run by partners, Sam Spade and Miles Archer. When they are approached by an enigmatic young woman - called Miss Wonderley - to follow a man who has run off with her sister, Archer opts to take the initial shift...and is shot and killed his first night on the job.  Spade discovers that Miss Wonderley is, in fact, a treasure seeker named Brigid O'Shaunessey who, with several other disreputable characters, is on the hunt for a mysterious statue; a legendary, jewel-encrusted bird known as the Maltese Falcon. Multiple twists, turns, betrayals and complications ensue, resulting in one of the greatest crime novels of all time. Sam Spade is regularly cited as one of the most iconoclastic detectives in all of crime fiction.  The book is presented here in its original and unabridged format.