Finished: The Maltese Falcon (Hammett) My first old-fashioned detective book...other than the Sherlock Holmes stories I've read. :-) This book was always coming up on a list of books that I should read. It was a good detective story, introducing me to private eye, Sam Spade. I had to really push Humphrey Bogart out of my head and just try to picture Sam Spade on my own as I read. There wasn't really too much surprising to the story. A woman in need, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, comes to Sam and his partner, Miles Archer for help finding out where a former criminal named Thursby (who she at first says has run off with her little sister) is staying in San Francisco. Of course, Brigid is lying as to why she wants to find Thursby....and after both Miles and Thursby end up dead, the police are on Sam Spade's case about what could have happened...even insinuating that maybe he killed his own partner since Sam was having a fling with Miles' wife, Iva. Sam deals with a few unsavory characters, the obese former boss of Brigid, Mr. Gutman, the effeminate partner in crime, Mr. Cairo and the skeezy trigger man, Wilmer Cook. They are all, along with Brigid, looking for the Maltese Falcon...an ancient statue of a Falcon that was encrusted in jewels and made for the King of Spain hundreds of years before. Stolen and misplaced many times over throughout the years, Gutman finally had his beady eyes on it in the possession of a rich Russian. When he sends Brigid to steal it from the Russian, Brigid decides to keep it for herself and enlist the help of Thursby. Brigid entrusts the statue to a ship Captain that is sailing for America, Captain Jacobi. It's a ship that will arrive in the states later than she and Thursby. Of course, after meeting Sam Spade, Brigid falls into bed with him rather than divulging the real truth of her story. She fancies that she loves Sam and that he loves her...but that doesn't stop her from wanting to complete her mission of making money off the statue. When the statue arrives, Brigid realizes that Gutman and Cairo are going to most likely kill her for the statue, so she begs Captain Jacobi to take it straight to Sam Spade. He does so, but at the cost of his own innocent life as Wilmer Cook shoots him as he's on his way. Captain Jacobi makes it to Sam Spade with the "package" and Sam leaves his affable and indispensable secretary, Effie, there to call the police after Jacobi dies of his wounds while Sam goes and deposits the statue in a train station locker. Finally, as all the interested parties meet, Sam insists that he won't deal with Gutman for the statue until he gives up Wilmer in the shooting of Thursby and Jacobi. Sam wants to hand the police the shooter, mostly to get them off of his back, but also for reasons of pride...to prove that he can "get his man". Gutman agrees and then takes out $10,000 to pay Sam in exchange for the statue. Sam has Effie fetch the statue and bring it over. Nearly salivating over the packaging, Gutman rips it all apart and scrapes off the outer layer of paint, only to discover that the statue is a fake! They all determine that the Russian was on to them and switched the statue before ever letting it out of his sight. The criminals decide to head back to Europe (with the $10,000), regroup and come up with a new plan. Brigid stays behind with Sam and is shocked when he tells her he's figured out that she's the one who killed his partner, Miles. She tries to deny it, but he lays out the story. He knows that she came there that day requesting one of them to follow Thursby, assuming that the ex-criminal would get nervous and kill his tail. She would then tell the police that Thursby did it, sending him to prison. That way she would be rid of splitting the money she'd get for the statue with him. When Thursby refused to be spooked by Miles that night, Brigid lured Miles into the alley herself and killed him with Thursby's gun, then still planning to pin it on Thursby. Of course, Thursby turned up dead by the hand of Wilmer before Brigid could go to the police. Brigid is shocked that Sam is going to turn her in, but turn her in he does. Case wrapped. :-) I can't say that I'm big on the detective genre, but the story was fast-paced and kept me reading. I'm going to read one other one I have...The Big Sleep. It's supposed to be "the best" detective novel out there. I guess we'll see. Then I think I'm done with detective novels. :-)