The Maltese Falcon (novel) before being published in book form in 1930 by Alfred A. Knopf. The novel has been filmed four times, twice under its original title: There have been two audiobooks of the novel: There has been one stage adaptation: The Maltese Falcon (novel) The Maltese Falcon is a 1930 detective novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett, originally serialized in the magazine "Black Mask" beginning with the September 1929 issue. The story is told entirely in external third-person narrative; there is no description whatever of any character's internal thoughts or feelings, only what they say and do, and how they look. The
The Maltese Falcon (novel) meeting, Gutman tells Spade the history of the falcon. It was made of gold and jewels by the 16th-century Knights of Malta as a gift to the King of Spain but was captured by pirates. After passing from owner to owner, at some time it was coated with black enamel to conceal its value. Gutman traced the falcon to General Kemidov, a Russian exile in Constantinople, and hired O'Shaughnessy to get it; she brought in Cairo to help. Then O'Shaughnessy and Thursby fled with it to Hong Kong and from there to San Francisco. During this conversation, Gutman drugs Spade,