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
The Maltese Bestiary chose to publish the book in English instead of Maltese to reach a wider audience as he believed that non-Maltese people and non-Maltese speakers would still have an interest in Maltese folklore. He also hoped to reach a wider audience to help Maltese folklore become more widely known. Much of his research was done by speaking to older relatives and by reading older books. Mifsud has cited Fr. Emanuel Magri as being a major source of his research. The book won Il-Kunsill-Nazzjonali Tal-Ktieb (Maltese National Book Council)'s prize for Best Book Production in 2015. The Maltese Bestiary The Maltese Bestiary: