The Maltese Falcon

Detective Sam Spade is a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. When his partner is killed during a stakeout, he is drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure with a dubious provenance—a golden bird encrusted with jewels. Also on the trail are a perfumed grifter named Joel Cairo, an oversized adventurer named Gutman, and Spade’s new client Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. 

This cat-and-mouse thriller has haunted readers for generations and inspired multiple adaptations including the iconic 1941 film of the same name starring Humphry Bogart and the 2024 AMC drama, Monsieur Spade, starring Clive Owen.