The Maltese Falcon (novel) 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 novel has been adapted several times for the cinema. The main character, Sam Spade (who also appeared later in some lesser-known short stories), was a departure from Hammett's nameless detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of
A Date with the Falcon with the Falcon" would be the first of many sequels that featured other actresses in leading roles. The series also became a breeding ground for other talented studio contractees including director Edward Dmytryk and actors Barbara Hale and Jane Greer. The "Falcon" series was also the progenitor of a new genre - film noir. In his review of "A Date with the Falcon", Bosley Crowther wrote, in "The New York Times", that, a pattern existed in the "Falcon" series "... the pattern. Mr. Sanders, an idle man of the world, is just about to be married—this time to Wendy Barrie—when