The Maltese Falcon, Franklin’s choice for The Big Read, is a novel set firmly in time and space - San Francisco in the late 20’s. Hammett, a former Pinkerton agent, is struggling with his writing career. Out of his own experiences, he writes a detective story about a man’s alienation from society and his lack of emotional involvement with his fellow man and woman. Not only did Hammett create Sam Spade, a strong enigmatic protagonist, who has become an anti hero, he created a new literary genre, “hard boiled” detective fiction.

The main character and his partner Miles Archer run a detective agency. Their beautiful secretary is loyal and protective and unrequitedly in love with Sam, who has a soft spot for her, but maintains his psychological distance. One morning, a beautiful woman enters the office to ask for Sam’s help in locating her missing sister. Sam’s partner takes on the assignment and is found murdered the next day.

And so begins the plot within a plot. Who is the unknown client and what is she hiding? Who killed Miles and why? Using interviews and his analytical skills, Sam’s line of investigation leads to even more mysterious characters and events – and to the Maltese Fal

Read The Maltese Falcon to find answers to these riveting questions and to enjoy the entertaining and well written novel.

Many of Dashiell Hammett’s (1894-1961) writings came from his experience as a detective at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Baltimore, Maryland. He joined the agency at the age of twenty-one and three years later took a leave of absence to join the Army during WWI. He served in the Motor Ambulance Corp where he contracted Spanish influenza. During his battle with influenza, he began a relationship with one of his nurses, Josephine Dolan. They married, moved to San Francisco, and had two daughters. In order to support his family, Hammett took to writing. He began writing for Black Mask an early pulp fiction magazine. He published his first novel, Red Harvest in 1929 and quickly followed it up with his second novel, The Dain Curse. Both novels were well received and Hammett became one of the best paid writers of the day. Soon, however, he was forced to move away from his family due to tuberculosis and remained separated from his family throughout his life but continued to support them financially. On Valentine’s Day 1930, he published The Maltese Falcon. By that time Hammett had become one of the best paid writers of his day and made more than twice the average American worker. He became quite the socialite in both Hollywood and New York. Hammett began an affair with Lillian Hellman, a famous actress and playwright. Although never married, they maintained an “on-again, off-again” relationship for more than thirty years.

Although successful, Hammett’s writing career was short lived. He published his last novel in 1934. When World War 2 started, he tried to sign up to join the Army for a second round of duty. He was 47 years old, in poor health, and was turned down twice. On the third try, he found a doctor who was a fan that cleared him for duty. He was sent to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. After the war Hammett turned his attention to left-wing causes. He was a member of the American Communist Party and was active in Loyalist causes of the Spanish Civil War. When McCarthyism was sweeping the country in 1951, he was arrested for his contributions to communist causes. Hammett died January 1961 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.