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 Maltese Falcon (novel) who passes out on the floor. Spade awakens alone and returns to his office where a wounded ship's captain staggers in and dies, carrying a package containing the falcon. O'Shaughnessy calls the office, begging for Spade's help but sending him on a wild goose chase. When he returns, O'Shaughnessy is waiting in front of Spade's apartment building. Inside it they find Gutman, Wilmer, and Cairo in wait with guns drawn. Gutman presents $10,000 in cash for the falcon but Spade remarks that the police must arrest someone for the murders that have been committed. During a fight, Spade knocks Wilmer