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The Maltese Falcon

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The Maltese Falcon

By: Dashiell Hammett
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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Summary

The definitive masterpiece of the hard-boiled detective genre, The Maltese Falcon first appeared in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929 and was almost immediately acknowledged as not only a great crime novel but an enduring masterpiece of American fiction.

Tough, cynical PI Sam Spade - a man who, as his creator explained, is "able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with" - is hired by the story's irresistible femme fatale, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, to locate the client's sister by tailing her companion. Spade's partner, Miles Archer, takes on the assignment, and quickly both he and the man he was shadowing are murdered. As Spade pursues the mystery of his partner's death, he is drawn into a circle of colorful characters - all of them after a legendary statuette of a falcon fashioned long ago for King Charles of Spain.

Made of gold and encrusted with jewels, the falcon is worth a fortune. Missing for centuries, it resurfaced in Paris in 1911, covered in black enamel to disguise its value, and then disappeared again until it was traced to Constantinople - and now, it would seem, to Spade's own backyard.

©2018 Dashiell Hammett (P)2018 Blackstone Publishing Crime Fiction Romance Romantic Comedy Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Comedy Crime Mystery
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I downloaded this after a recommendation, I had no idea at the time that it had been made into an Oscar nominated film(!) but it was clear early on why it was.

We don't see a lot of this kind of detective drama these days, but it is very alluring and this was an excellent book that I got through very quickly.

A classic.

Not my usual genre, but still a great read.

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narrator is as good as Jeff Harding who in my humble opinion is one of the best out there!

a classic. totally compulsive read

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Loved the original book & film.
The narrator made it sound just like Sam Spade, 'dead pan', just like Sam(character) and Humphrey Bogart(actor) in the film.
Loved every minute of it.
A classic from start to finish.

Classic book/film, great narrator

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The narration is great. The story is okay. It jumps very much from one topic to the next without really stringing them together.

A true Noir drama, with all the good AND bad.

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you can't fault the vivid writing style. story is decent. just read it if you like reading books lol

excellent description

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