Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

by Joe Gores

A wonderfully dark, pitch-perfect noir prequel to The Maltese Falcon , featuring Dashiell Hammett’s beloved detective, Sam Spade.

It’s 1921 - seven years before Sam Spade will solve the famous case of the Maltese Falcon. He’s just set up his own agency in San Francisco and he gets off to a quick start, working cases (he doesn’t do domestic) and hiring a bright young secretary named Effie Perrine. When he’s hired by a prominent San Francisco banker to find his missing son, Spade gets the break he’s been looking for. He spends the next few years dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, and bumbling cops. He brings in Miles Archer as a partner to help bolster the agency, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. All along, Spade will tangle with an enigmatic villain who holds a long-standing grudge against Spade. And, of course, he’ll fall in love, though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Noir, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Hard Boiled

337 pages, Hardcover

First published February 10, 2009

About the author

Joe Gores (1931-2011) was the author of the acclaimed DKA series of street-level crime and detection, as well as the stunning suspense novels Dead Man and Menaced Assassin.

He served in the U.S. Army - writing biographies of generals at the Pentagon - was educated at the University of Notre Dame and Stanford, and spent twelve years as a San Francisco private investigator. The author of dozens of novels, screenplays, and television scripts, he won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Japan's Maltese Falcon Award.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this yesterday, and must say I enjoyed it. Gores has the Hammett style down and it seems like it could well be the "McCoy" instead of the pastiche/homage that it is--to be sure, it is in the style of "Red Harvest" or "The Dain Curse" . . . three shporter separate adventures with a through line. There are a couple of howlers, though, for instance on p. 62 Gores has Spade sit on a red vinyl stool--forgetting that Vinyl as we know it wasn't viable before 1926 and certainly not widely used for covering restaurant furniture until much later. Then on P. 92 he writes about a police touring car with a light on top--not likely, since touring cars are open cars with rag tops. A sedan or coupe might have a light on top, but not a touring car. Gaffes like these don't ruin the book by any means, and frankly I didn't catch any others. Plotwise this is pure pulp, and Gores follows Hammett's example in having Spade jump to conclusion and rely way too much on coincidence that stretches credulity--still, it is a fun read.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Spade than Archer, this prequel is a treat. You hear Bogie doing the Spade lines in your head. Mr. Gores muscular writing pushes the narrative along and little bits seen again the "dingus novel" drop in. Bonus points for shout to THE GREAT GATSBY and Nick Charles. All in all, a fun private eye book about the great one before he became great. Fast read, too.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picking up another author’s pen can be very dangerous sledding. When that author and his characters are both iconic – well that can border on sacrilege. Joe Gores does just that with Spade & Archer, having written a prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Here’s the good news/bad news – I don’t think anyone familiar with Hammett’s work will wonder whether Hammett’s been resurrected and is writing again or a lost Hammett novel has recently surfaced. That doesn’t mean this is a bad book, I really enjoyed it and recommend it, but some Hammett purists may disagree.

If you are familiar with the book or the film The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade comes to us as a “completely developed” character – independent, cynical and hard working – tracking the murderer of his partner out of honor rather than friendship. This book chronicles the education of Spade - his early years just after World War I – as he solves cases with his brawn, brains and connections, builds up his detective agency and eventually partners with Miles Archer.

We meet and get to know his cigarette rolling secretary – Spade smokes like a chimney – we gain a deeper understanding of Mrs. Archer and her relationship with Sam and we learn how Sam gained his reputation with both the police and the San Francisco underworld. There’s also an arch-nemesis behind the scenes that Sam runs up against several times.

All in all I enjoyed Spade & Archer, it follows Hammett’s framework without simply mimicking him. If you are a fan of hard-boiled detective stories with a connection to the past you won’t go wrong here.

A very good book and highly recommended

[Gram · Rating 3 out of 5]

An homage to Dashiell Hammett - author of "The Maltese Falcon" and other hard-boiled detective novels - "Spade And Archer" is a prequel to Hammett's most famous book. Set in 1920's San Francisco, Sam Spade quits the Continental detective agency and sets up for himself. The book comprises 3 stories covering a period of 7 years in the run up to Spade's most famous case.
The first story has him hired by a San Francisco banker to find his missing son. Along the way, he encounters a mystery man responsible for the theft of some gold bullion and the murders of his 4 accomplices. Spade is to cross paths with this enigmatic stranger again before he finally discovers his real identity.
Meanwhile, he hires another detective Miles Archer as his partner and the pair deal with bootleggers, banking swindles, and at least one incompetent policeman who is determined to see Spade lose his licence and his liberty. All the while Sam is cuckolding Archer which adds some spice to the story.
The author perfectly captures the atmosphere of 1920's San Francisco's mean streets and he has the character of Sam Spade down pat, but I found myself skipping some pages of minute descriptions of people and places as the detective went about his business.
Recommended for hardcore fans of Dashiell Hammett's work.

[Spiros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fittingly, it all starts with Flitcraft.
In the middle of THE MALTESE FALCON, which has been called the first existential detective novel, Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaugnessy about a case involving a man named Flitcraft, who disappeared from his affluent life in Tacoma, only to be tracked down ten years later in Spokane, living an identical life. This story, which has no bearing whatsoever on the MALTESE FALCON, is Joe Gores' starting point for this prequel.
As with his previous novel, HAMMETT, Gores does a masterful job of evoking San Francisco at the time in which Dashiell Hammett was gracing its streets. Despite the fact that his own style has been deeply informed by that of Hammett, Gores does not write using Hammett's style; this is very much a Joe Gores novel. He makes excellent use of Hammett's characters, including Mickey Linehan from the "Continental Op" stories; so much so that I was disappointed not to run into the Op, or a younger Nick Charles, or even a parttime "Continental" operative, parttime copywriter for Samuels' Jewelers, fulltime consumptive, named Samuel Dashiell Hammett. Instead of having their paths cross, Gores conflates Spade and Hammett, giving Spade Hammett's address, 891 Post Street, having Spade quit "Continental" for the same reasons Hammett did, and having Spade solve a case very much in the way Hammett solved one of his last cases for Pinkertons.
A minor quibble: if you are going to put Harry Bridges into your story, call him Harry Bridges, not "Harry Brisbane". Also I found Spade calling Effie "Snip" to be an irritating infringement on Ned Beaumont's character. Also, again: where was Philo Farnsworth?

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is the story of how Sam Spade became the private investigator and how hé happened to sleep with his partner Miles Archers wife.
After Spade returns from WW1 hé works a wee while for the Continental before hé becomes his own man.
Listen Joe Gores is no Dashiel Hammett and it would have been grand if the man had written a bit more books about Sam Spade, but that did not happen.
Sam Spade is less of a literary hero hé is Humphrey Bogart's creation, even if the book was filmed before. But the Maltese Falcon cemented Sam Spade. Amazing as it is that it took so long before somebody wrote a new Spade novel. But this book is Bogart far more than Hammett. Funny is Spade undercover as Customs officer Nick Charles thereby mentioning another immortal Hammett creation better known in his cinematic guise The Thin Man.
This novel brings you noir, beautifull gals, one faceless enemy who haunt Spade for seven years. The book is divided in 3 parts and offers a lot of space for other writers to continue this character. I would buy it.
Not a 5 star review as Hammett would undoubtely written a stronger version. Still great stuff.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's something about Dashiell Hammett's writing that, even when I was very young, I enjoyed immensely: perhaps because it was so uncluttered, not quite to Hemingway's standards but nevertheless clear and concise.

Joe Gores has managed to capture that clarity in this book. In some ways, the book is three short stories taking place in 1921, 1925 and 1928. There is a theme that runs through all three, a villain that Spade cannot get out of his craw. In each section, the reader can not only see how Spade has changed but also how he remains true to his principles. He's tough, smart, with no sentimentality except for people he's protecting or his secretary Effie.

The first story involves the theft of Gold Specie off an Australian ship, the second the murder of a San Francisco banker involved in fraud, and the third introduces a beautiful Chinese woman, the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat Sen, looking for a quarter million dollars raised for her father but never delivered.

Each story leads into the next and each also involves Spade's unnamed nemesis who he finally meets face to face in the conclusion of the third section. Everything is neatly tied up at the end.

The book ends with Effie announcing a new client, Miss Wonderly. If you've read the book or seen the movie, "The Maltese Falcon", you know what's coming next. I should admit here that the 1941 movie with Humphery Bogart and Mary Astor is in my top five films of all time.

I think Gores has done a great job of capturing Hammet's style and faithfully presenting Sam Spade in this prequel. I loved it. Took me back to my youth.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dashiell Hammett wrote some great yarns. My favorite may be the brutal Red Harvest, but he showed a lighter touch with The Thin Man and built on his own detective experience with The Continental Op.

His excellent noir, The Maltese Falcon, was the only story that featured private eye, Sam Spade.
Anyone who saw the movie was struck with Humphrey Bogart's ability to vitalize Spade. And his monologue at the end, directed at Mary Astor is perfection.

Now with the blessing of the Hammett estate, Joe Gores has created a prequel to that book. From my perspective, it is equally a successful homage to Hammett.

Gores gets it right with a series of linking cases that explore the experiences that made the Spade we know. Lots on Effie Perine and other characters like his future partner, Miles Archer, and Archer's wife, Iva, as well as the cops, Dundy and Polhaus.

Full of research on the old San Francisco, Gores skillfully brings in restaurants, clubs, unions, stores, furnishings and transportation of the period. Very entertaining.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first reaction to this book was why? Why did the world need a prequel (a word I hate, by the way) of The Maltese Falcon? While I'm still not sold on the need for such a volume, Joe Gores' loving and faithful addition to the Sam Spade canon is welcome and fun reading. The book is actually a collection of three parts in which we see the young Spade go out on his own as a detective in 1921, become involved with a trio of dangerous women in 1925 and form his fateful partnership with Miles Archer in 1928. Given that Gores was a private eye before turning to mystery writing, his legwork in recreating Jazz Age-San Francisco is obvious without being distracting. I'm not completely sold on the villain who runs through all three sections of the book but otherwise this is a solid read for fans of Hammett's most famous detective.

[Joe Noir · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a prequel to a classic novel by another author, this book is pretty good. It’s clear that one is not reading Hammett, but Gores does a fine job. The tone is very close, but the writing as a whole is smoother than Hammett’s. Gores uses a couple of terms that may be anachronistic, from a later period than the twenties. The characterization of Sam Spade is spot on, in my opinion. This is the detective from The Maltese Falcon.

As a standalone novel, this is a great read. A fine example of hardboiled detective fiction. Pulp fiction in the best sense of the word. The story takes place over eight to nine years, and describes the action in three different years: 1921, 1925, and 1929. Some of the plot points are based on actual incidents in Hammett’s life. Some subplots set up action in The Maltese Falcon. I could easily imagine Humphrey Bogart speaking Spade’s dialogue. One character seems to me to have been perfect for Lauren Bacall, or perhaps written with her in mind.

I recommend reading this novel after one has read The Maltese Falcon, as much of the pleasure is derived from knowing what will happen in the future.

If you forget that Gores dared to touch a classic (remember willing suspension of disbelief), you can’t go wrong with this one.

[David Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

Joe Gores nails Hammett's voice, right down to the passé slang and grammar. The story is a prequel to the Maltese Falcon, and works wonderfully (or should that be Wonderly?). It's also a terrific standalone noir on its own merits.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be easy enough to criticize this novel on a number of fronts: the forgettable and not very believable plots, the over-attention to minute details of San Francisco streets and places, the almost parodic use of the Hammett style. But these are inconsequential when held up against the sheer pleasure of reading a Sam Spade novel. Spade skirts the law and has no time for its representatives, but holds his own ethical code inviolate, even when doing so puts himself at risk. He is also a kind of renaissance man, instantly 'getting' literary references from Shakespeare to Fitzgerald.

In the introductory case in this novel Spade has been hired to find an absent husband - a man who simply disappeared one day, leaving behind a successful business and a happy family life. When Spade finds him, the man tells him that he had been nearly killed by a falling beam, and that the randomness of it brought him to the realization that if life is driven by random forces then he himself might as well live his life randomly. But in his report on the incident Spade notes that once the man adjusted to having survived a falling beam, he 'adjusted right back' to his old life, just in a different city and a different wife and a different family. This is an implied, though unstated, reference to Eliot's observation that 'humankind cannot bear very much reality' - and is an echo of the existentialist thought so prevalent in the 1920s in the aftermath of a devastating war that removed all possibility of belief in a stable world and a stable place for ourselves in it. Spade's ability to see this and to express it so compactly is one of the great appeals of the Spade character. Gores does a fine job here.

There are similar tidbits throughout the novel, but the overall arc of the storyline is a bit muddled. The novel is really three interlinked novellas, linked only by the characters and by a shadowy criminal master mind who nearly, but not quite, succeeds in stealing a large quantity of gold in the first story and who returns later in a variety of disguises (sometimes with little apparent reason) to get his hands on the gold, and to make Spade's life a misery for having thwarted him in the first place. The three stories take place at four-year intervals through the 1920s, ending at the precise moment when The Maltese Falcon begins. We are given a plausible back-story for the Spade-Archer relationship, we learn why the secretary Effie Perrine is so loyal to Spade, we meet Sid Wise, the attorney that Spade consults occasionally, and we're given plenty of background on Spade himself. We also find out that Spade has a nearly photographic memory for every street corner in his adopted San Francisco, and that he is equally at ease with street thugs, politicians, and bankers. In short, there's nothing here that disturbs our image of the Sam Spade played by Humphrey Bogart.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of fun - if probably unnecessary - prequel to The Maltese Falcon, S&A covers the evolution of Sam Spade from his beginnings as a private dick in 1921 right up through page 1 of Falcon. With its frequent racist statements and politically incorrect sexism, Gores probably does a good job capturing the tone of both the times and the original book; however, at least two of the four (or was it five?) cases that make up the book are white collar financial crimes that could not have been more boring, (as proven by the fact that I've already forgotten them). What ties all the cases together is a Moriarty-like character with the extremely un-Moriarty-like name of St. Clair McPhee; (POTENTIAL IF TOTALLY OBSCURE SPOILER: the final twist of the story involves a "reverse Die Another Day"). So...not bad, but pretty much disposable.

What the book did accomplish was to make me curious about the original Falcon story; but since I wasn't interested enough (i.e., too lazy) to reread the whole book, I got the movie out from the library...and man has that not aged well! Rotten Tomatoes still (and to me, inexplicably) gives it a perfect 100%, but I thought it was just screaming for a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment. The acting was pretty bad/funny; everyone spoke super-fast; the "fight choreography" was consistently off-target (Spade slapping Cairo on the chest; Dundee punching Spade in the throat); and Bogart just...wow, with his frequent mood swings and sudden bursts of psychotic laughter - I just found him even creepier than the already-pretty-creepy Peter Lorre. In fact, the only relatable/likeable main character was Sidney Greenstreet's "Gutman" (which I couldn't tell was his real name or just a mean nickname, since he was also frequently referred to as "the Fat Man") - now there's a character worthy of a prequel!

FINAL NOTE: I was very surprised to find out that before S&A's publication in 2009, Maltese Falcon was the ONLY Sam Spade novel - I always thought he was a more famous character than that. And sure, there was a late-40's radio series (a dozen episodes of which our library has on CD, and which my son declared "hilarious") - but other than that, yup: just the one book. So apparently I've been confusing him with Raymond Chandler's "Philip Marlowe" all this time (forgivable, in that he was also played by Bogie), who featured in over a DOZEN novels. So while both Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler may be equally well-known (or unknown, depending on your generation) as authors, I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the name "Sam Spade" is more universally known than that of Marlowe, showing once again the power of alliteration*.

* (See also "dollars to doughnuts")

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun hardboiler tells the back story of Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's famously noir detective who solved The Maltese Falcon case. We meet Spade in 1921 on his last case as a Continental op before hanging out his own shingle in San Francisco. Here we see Spade the young private investigator ("I don't do domestics") struggling to get his business going, hiring secretary Effie Perine and finding her more world-wise than her innocent exterior, and befriending Sid Wise and finding him more honest than his low-budget lawyer persona.

But mostly, the stories are about the hard-bitten, the bitter, the rough-and-tumble, the hard-edged, but never depraved, sociopathic, or completely cynical denizens of the San Francisco waterfront of the 1920s. The cases in their bleakness always yet offer a hidden core of optimism, honor, and justice.

And the core of the story, dispensing honor and justice with a touch of optimism and a large helping of manly muscle, mystery, and misogyny (though in his heart of hearts, if he thought it through, Spade would say that he considers women equal, but different, and it is in the difference that he truly loves women)--lies Sam Spade.

The spiritual grandfather of Dirty Harry Callahan, Spade is the center of the story, and Gores wisely keeps it so. The Maltese Falcon is the historical model of the genre, so Gores has no need to venture far to create or recreate. The beauty is that Hammett sadly lost his ability and creative desire far too young, so we never grew tired of the story, and in that space, we find Gores' new excavations and creations worth the telling and the reading.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i know. why do so many writers feel an urge to write a prequel or sequel to somebody else's great work of literature? but still, i picked this book up. it may have been the cover that drew my eye... noir to the last detail. and gores does a great job with it. first, he's able to write in the mood of the great hammett. while that means i still don't know whether or not gores is a good writer, it did enable me to really enjoy this story. its sprawling -- covers over a decade in the life of sam spade, but i never felt lost. and man, the maltese falcon really must have been written for humphrey bogart, because i was able to easily picture him in this story from start to finish -- that actually really helped me jump into the plot. and second, its just a good tale of morals and intrigue and dirty human nature. it may have actually scored a 5 if this weren't a prequel to somebody else's work. i just don't think you should get full credit for that.

[Jesus Velasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela negra escrita por Joe Gores y publicada en 2010. La novela narra la historia de Sam Spade, el protagonista de la novela El halcón maltés de Dashiell Hammett, en sus primeros años como detective privado.

La novela comienza con Spade regresando a San Francisco después de haber servido en la Primera Guerra Mundial. Spade está decidido a empezar una nueva vida como detective privado, pero pronto se verá envuelto en una serie de casos turbios que lo llevarán a enfrentarse a una peligrosa red de corrupción.

Spade & Archer es una novela bien escrita y emocionante que ofrece una visión única de uno de los personajes más icónicos de la novela negra. Gores captura a la perfección el estilo y el ambiente de la novela de Hammett, y crea un protagonista que es a la vez duro y vulnerable.

La novela ha sido elogiada por la crítica, y ha sido comparada con obras clásicas del género como El halcón maltés y La reina de los condenados.

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really flawless tribute to THE MALTESE FALCON. Traces the whole career of Sam Spade prior to the classic adventure, including some fascinating sidelights on labor unrest and left-wing politics of the Depression.

The mystery is thrilling and all of the characters are totally believable.

[Mark Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining

Joe Gores is a great author. Here he comes close to emulating Hammett and he doesn't employ cheap "tricks" like the guy the family employed to continue the Millennium series. A major plus is his knowledge of the Bay Area and how he works in fun stuff for long time Marin residents.

[Bookmarks Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nearly all critics begin their reviews with one, head-scratching question: Why? The pages of book sections are littered with excoriating reviews of prequels to classics like Gone With The Wind and The Godfather. So it's an even greater tribute to Gores's achievement that, but for one glaring exception, he creates a chorus of converts. This meticulously researched backstory is a highly entertaining novel in its own right, albeit one that happens to cast new light on one of crime fiction's most compelling characters. Gores, who has written for television shows like Columbo and Magnum P. I., was turned down once by Hammett's daughter when he asked to write a prequel. She finally gave him the green light, and he's done her, her father, and a literary icon proud.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Spade and Archer quite a bit. In my head Humphrey Bogart played the role of Sam Spade, so that may have helped. However, the story was good. It occurred in three parts over a span of 7 years. Each part has its own case/solution but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If from the movie The Maltese Falcon or the book you wondered about the whole Spade-Archer dynamic, this book provides a plausible background.

It's been a long time since I read The Maltese Falcon by Hammett, so I can't really comment on how well Joe Gores captured his style. I will say that he did not overdo the hard-boiled noir style, a common failing.

I especially liked the 1920s San Francisco setting, although it helped that I have been there several times. It took me a bit to realize that the story took place before the building of the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, and that was why there were so many ferry rides in the book.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gores does a magnificent job of recreating the era in which Hammett wrote and the rhythm of his style. I thought the first two parts of the book were authentic and well-done, with tension, dialogue, and human drama. I was less enamored of the last part. I see in the acknowledgements that he had help with that part. I thought the third part unconvincing and slow, and left loose ends in my mind about the main character, Samuel Spade. I came to care about him and his activities less than before. I can only recommend it to those fascinated with the Hammett oeuvre, but I could have whole-heartedly recommended it had it finished with the first two sections only. Very good effort.

Love the look and feel of the book. I have an advance copy printed on yellowed paper and the paper jacket has flaps for promotional material.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but a little disappointing. Despite the title, Archer is a minor character at best, seemingly shoehorned into a story that should have been expressly designed to feature him. Gores does manage to provide a reason for Effie's endless loyalty to Sam, but for the most part, the book seems to act as almost a vindication for Spade, revealing him as a fundamentally decent and virtuous man who comes to have a deeply cynical outlook on a corrupt world.

I suppose it's inevitable when approaching a book like this to imagine one's own spin on the material, but with the exception of Effie, I do feel that Gores legitimately missed his target here. The motive force of the novel should have been the relationship between Spade and Archer, with Effie and Archer's wife tugging on them from the sidelines, rather than focusing on a woman and criminal invented from whole cloth.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this prequel featuring the hard-boiled detective, Sam Spade. I recently watched the AMC tv show, Monsieur Spade, and realized that I had never read The Maltese Falcon. After reading and enjoying that, I decided to give this one a try and was glad that I did. We begin in 1921 when a young Sam, recently returned from WWI, opens his own PI agency in San Francisco. He hires his efficient secretary, Effie, who is only a young woman just out of high school and befriends his office neighbor and lawyer, Sid Wise. Miles Archer hasn't entered the picture yet but we know that he is the man who stole Sam's lady, Iva, away while Sam was away at war. The first case Sam literally stumbles into is a gold heist from a ship just in port from Singapore. Sam was hired by Sid Wise's client, banker Charles Barber, to track down his son, Henny, who has run away to explore the South Pacific. Sam rightly assumes that he will try to stow away on a ship and goes aboard to search the lifeboats when word of the heist is raised. Not all of the gold is missing from the vault, indicating that the thieves were interrupted. Sam immediately knows that it must be an inside job but pegs the mastermind behind the plot as a passenger named St. James who disembarked with little more than a suitcase. But of course Sargent Dundy, Sam's nemesis, doesn't see it that way and botches the investigation. Sam traces the missing gold to a nearby island where, by the time he finds the hiding place, he finds not the gold but the dead bodies of the ship's crew who were the inside men helping St. James. Sam is discouraged that St. James escaped but vows that he'll get him someday. Next, it is 1925 and Archer makes an appearance, trying to convince Sam to partner up with him and Sam flatly refuses. Sam is hired, off the books, by an insurance company who is suspicious of paying out on a life insurance policy of a man who was recently found dead, floating in the ocean. He owned a bank and there was a rumor that it was in trouble. Sam wants to see the bank's records but they won't let him or the man's widow see them so Sam gets Henny to get a job there as a junior teller and hires him to keep the nightwatchman busy so that he can break into the office and get the files. Meanwhile, Effie's friend, Penny, is in trouble. She is scared that she is being followed and cooks up a tall tale to get Sam's help. Sam knows that she is lying but plays along anyway to see what games she is playing and finds out that she no longer works at the brokerage firm and lives in a boarding house under an assumed name. It turns out that she was the dead banker's mistress and she had been helping him launder gold, supposedly mined in Africia, through the brokerage firm to keep the bank afloat. But she was approached by a man who made it clear that he had killed the banker and Penny escaped and went into hiding. Sam figures out pretty quickly that the laundered gold was the stuff stolen four years ago and that the man who killed the banker was St. James, now using another alias. But again, the man escapes because Dundy screws up and Penny ends up dead because of it. Sam is furious and vows revenge. Flashforward to 1928 and Sam finally agrees to a partnership with Archer because the shipping companies want to hire him to stop a theft ring from stealing freight from the docks but Sam is too well known at the docks and needs someone to do the undercover work. So Archer is sent to scope out the docks and trace the missing merchandise. Meanwhile, Sam has a case from a young Asian woman who wants his help in tracking down two men who double crossed her father three years ago, leading to his death. They had been raising money for her father's army but they embezzled it instead. The woman's reverend recommended Sam to her but Sam has never heard of him and is suspicious. Sam, with the help of Henny, finds the retired banker and, over a bottle of whisky, gets the whole story out of him. His accomplice double crossed him and hid the money somewhere before disappearing. When the banker ends up dead the next day, Sam knows that he was lying and that he knew where the money was hidden. He finds the book, Treasure Island, beneath the dead body and finds a map hidden inside which leads him to another island where the money is buried. He tells his client but makes her swear not to tell anyone but, of course, she tells the reverend, which Sam was counting on. When Sam goes to the island, he is met by the reverend at gun point and forced to follow the map and dig, either to find the money or dig his own grave. But Sam, already suspecting that the reverend was fake and that he was none other than St. James, had switched maps and had instead hidden a box containing a weapon which he used to injure St. James, dump him in the grave and bury him alive. The real map didn't turn up any money but the woman did make out by gaining an American husband as Henny is smitten with her. Sam also solved the dock theft case by finding out that Archer was in cahoots with the anti-union group that wanted to pin the thefts on union leader, and Sam's friend, Harry, but, unbeknownst to them, Harry has been laid up with a broken foot blowing their whole story out of the water. Sam agrees to keep the story out of the papers as long as all of the freight is returned and the anti-union leader is fired. Archer is none too pleased to lose out on his bonus but doesn't push it because he thinks that Sam doesn't know that he was in on the scheme from the beginning. Sam has his own reason for keeping Archer close because he has been having an affair with Iva. With both cases now closed, Effie tells the men that a Miss Wonderly is there to see them, the woman who stars in The Maltese Falcon. A well done detective novel.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this right after reading THE MALTESE FALCON might have been unfair to Gores, but I really did love how he reflected Hammett's voice without trying to imitate. Truth be known, I preferred Hammett, but...Gore gave me so much back story...how Effie and Sam met, why he's carrying the weight of the world on those rounded shoulders, what a jerk Miles Archer was, and what a knight in shining armor Sam became to avenge the murder of a jerk.

You could tell that Gores knew and loved the characters, the setting, and the genre. A fun read.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it ends with Effie announcing Bridget Wonderly, but it is a "corker".

Watch for the homages to Hammet, Spade takes an alias of "Nick Charles" at one point. I felt that the main vilian was relatively faceless, but many of the minor characters were great. Even some real life people, Henry Brisbane for Harry Bridges, etc. There is no facon, but some owls show up

[Charity · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three novella's comprise this luke warm entertaining prequel that is more Spade than Archer. Gores tries to force tension into a narrative where there is none. He fails to write a noir or hard-boiled detective novel like Hammett. The language is over the top campy and fails to zing. The characters do not have impact or reach, they are simply victims of poorly developed and uninteresting plot.

[Larry Newton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed by this book. I didn't like the characters of Spade or Archer, because I didn't recognize either from the original. There were too many details in this book that were made up and too different from the Maltese Falcon as I read it. Perhaps I would have failed at this task as well, but I would have just let it lie dormant.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very impressed by this book. Author is well keeping to the period and the story was fun. Now I need to go watch the Maltese Falcon again!

[Dah · Rating 2 out of 5]

MORE DULL THAN NOT

Review based on the Black Lizard books publication


"Spade & Archer" could have been extremely good. Unfortunately, too many slip ups, from both the publisher and the author, caused me to rate it 2 Stars.

First, the publisher, V.C./Black Lizard: "The prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon" should have read "The Years Before The Maltese Falcon", for the reason that, "Spade & Archer" has nothing to do with "The Maltese Falcon". For me, it was greatly misleading. And the story is way too long. It should have been edited down from its 337 pages to about 250 to 260 pages. There's too much unnecessary narration and dialogue happening. I had to skim over many paragraphs and pages of dull filler-writing to reconnect with the plot.

Second, the author, the late Joe Gores: I commend him on the concept. But I feel that he over wrote this story. It could have been a great story, a page turner, unfortunately, it is not––hence the 2 Stars. Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" (Black Lizard) is 216 pages of a tightly knitted page turner. Gores should have followed the Master, and stayed within the same page range, rather than dragging the story out with over a hundred more pages of tedious writing. Some of Gores lengthy descriptions of building interiors and so on were tiring and unimportant, for this reader.

Also, Gores' usage of the verb "said" was distracting for this reader eg. "What do you want, Tom?" said Spade, should have been written like this, "What do you want, Tom?" Spade said. This is irritatingly consistent throughout the dialogue.

NOTE: I'm a huge fan of Black Lizard crime books. But with this one, I feel that B.L. should have poured some polish over the story, then buffed it out to a sparkling finish. The concept was brilliant, but the story was more dull than not.

To end on an upbeat tone: the closing three chapters are good. The climax was good. Though I didn't like the very last paragraph––it wasn't necessary, and it added nothing to the "Spade and Archer" novel.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a prequel to the famous hard boiled detective novel The Maltese Falcon, written by ex-detective and author Joe Gores. The Maltese Falcon launched the entire hard boiled genre and is considered a literary classic, so that's a pretty high bar to clear for any author, even one as skilled and talented as Gores.

And he pulls it off. Joe Gores writes like he's possessed by Dashiell Hammett, leaning over a typewriter smoking and coughing in a San Francisco apartment in 1925. Somehow he captures the language, the setting, the culture, the characters, and the feel of Dash's books like he was there along side the great author.

Set up as three related novellas, this story tells the tale of Sam Spade before the events of Falcon, and how he became associated with Archer to begin with (a man who he does not describe in a positive light, and whose wife he was sleeping with). The stories are very San Francisco-centric, set in the 1920s. Gores presumes that Sam was an operative for the Continental Deteective Agency, a fictitious agency based on the Pinkertons which Hammett wrote many stories about. Sam leaves the agency to go it on his own, tired of busting up unions and peeping on wives.

Each story is connected by a single antagonist of exceptional skill and intelligence, and ruthlessness. The stories help establish who Sam is, why he is that way, the background to things assumed and demonstrated in the Maltese Falcon, and where he learned to be so hard and cold when he needed to be.

There are few flaws; Archer is barely in the book despite the title, and there's one scene near the end where Sam Spade acts (in my opinion) out of character, but one can understand why he might do so. Overall a magnificent achievement, entertaining and informative read, and enjoyable addition to the all-too-small Sam Spade canon.