This "classic" detective story, set in the 30s, features the now-famous Sam Spade. Though Spade appears in this novel and a handful of Hammett's short stories, he has become the iconic private investigator and the model for a hundred hard-boiled look-alikes.
Spade and his partner, Archer, are hired by a starry-eyed Ms. Wonderly to follow a man she says has her sister trapped in a bad relationship. Spade knows she's lying but the price is right, so he sends his partner to shadow the man in question.
When both the partner and the mark are found murdered in the morning, Spade is sent through a series of wild goose chases and vicious traps.
Ms. Wonderly is actually Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and she's gotten herself mixed up with a high-profile theft of a rare and valuable figurine, the Maltese Falcon.
Spade is suspected by the police for the murder of his partner and the man Archer was tailing. Torn between his survival instinct and a desire to help the deceitful O'Shaungnessy, Spade uses shrewd thinking and smooth talking to keep control of the police investigation, the DA inquisition, the flighty O'Shaughnessy, a cowardly Greek thief and his sometimes partner, the fat Gutman and company.
I am so glad we have left books like this behind. The womanizing Sam Spade is bad enough. But the extreme uselessness of every woman in the story is irritating at best. At the worst, these women are downright offensive.
Archer's wife, Iva, has been having an affair with Spade. Spade doesn't even seem to like her, but she is hopelessly devoted to him. She is overly dramatic, insanely jealous, and completely dependent on Spade to live.
Spade's assistant, Miss Perine, takes care of his EVERY need, no matter what the hour. She sits in his lap and holds him and massages him. She is a sexual harassment nightmare!
Don't even get me started on the lying slut, O'Shaughnessy.
There is not a strong, decent, independent female character to be found in the pages of this novel.
Spade himself is a big ol' grouch. Pompous and superior and absolutely sure that he's the only person who deserves to know any of the answers.
This book, I could take it or leave it. Mostly leave it.
Wow. What do you think of the movie? I've always liked the movie, but it doesn't sound like I would enjoy the book at all...
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie when I was very young. I only remember the high adventure and intrigue. Plus I probably had a 9-yr-old's crush on Humphrey Bogart. That was him in the movie wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteInteresting - Dave points out in his review of Hondo - that women readers would likely be offended by the portrayal of women as useless and needing a man to survive.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that modern fiction has indeed left this world behind. Sometimes I think it's there - it just wears a better disguise.