Sam Spade Sam Spade Sam Spade is a fictional private detective and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, "The Maltese Falcon". Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. "The Maltese Falcon", first published as a serial in the pulp magazine "Black Mask", is the only full-length novel in which Spade appears. The character, however, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard-boiled private detective fiction—Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, for instance, was strongly influenced by Spade. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less-than-glamorous detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous
The Falcon (character) The Falcon (character) "Drexel Drake" (a pseudonym of Charles H. Huff) created Michael Waring, alias the Falcon, a free-lance investigator and troubleshooter, in his 1936 novel, "The Falcon's Prey". It was followed by two more novels ("The Falcon Cuts In", 1937 and "The Falcon Meets a Lady", 1938) and a 1938 short story. Gay Stanhope Falcon is a fictional character created in 1940 by Michael Arlen. This Falcon made his first appearance in Arlen's short story "Gay Falcon", which was first published in 1940 in "Town & Country" magazine. Falcon is characterized as a freelance adventurer and troubleshooter - a