The Maltese Falcon - by Dashiell Hammett (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time, The Maltese Falcon is an intense and immersive hard-boiled detective novel that inspired multiple adaptations--including the popular film noir classic staring Humphrey Bogart.

This stunning new collector's hardcover edition includes brand new black and white illustrations, a foil printed cover, and gorgeous sprayed edges.

Brilliant detective Sam Spade is the quintessential private eye, with his own code of ethics. When a standard stakeout goes wrong and Spade's partner is killed, he finds himself drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure with of dubious origin--a golden bird encrusted with jewels.

But he's not the only one on the trail of the Falcon. Hot on his heels are Joel Cairo, a perfumed grifter; an oversized adventurer named Gutman; and Spade's new client Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a beautiful but treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a hat.

A classic that redefined the genre, The Maltese Falcon is a must read for mystery fans.

Review Quotes

"The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we have ever read, it is an exceedingly well-written novel."

-- "The Times Literary Supplement (UK)"

"The Maltese Falcon was one of the best books of its kind ever written. It struck the publishing world and reading world--which is something entirely distinct from the literary world--like a thunderclap. Nothing has been the same since."

-- "John Crosby, New York Herald Tribune"

"[Hammett] was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before."

-- "Raymond Chandler, Edgar Award winning author of The Big Sleep"

"After reading The Maltese Falcon, I went mooning about in a daze of love such as I had not known for any character in literature since I encountered Sir Launcelot."

-- "Dorothy Parker, The New Yorker"

"Dashiell Hammett...is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer."

-- "The Boston Globe"

"Hammett's prose is clean and entirely unique. His characters are as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction."

-- "The New York Times"

"If you can show me 20 books written approximately 20 years back that have as much guts and life now [as The Maltese Falcon], I'll eat them between slices of Edmund Wilson's head."

-- "Raymond Chandler, Edgar Award winning author of The Big Sleep"

"Like Wilkie Collins and Arthur Conan Doyle, Hammett was an original who created a profoundly influential literary template that gives him classic status."

-- "The Guardian"

"Sixty years after its initial publication, The Maltese Falcon remains one of the most skillfully written detective novels in the history of the genre."

-- "Los Angeles Times"

"The best detective story America has yet produced."

-- "Alexander Woolcott, author, actor, journalist, and critic "