Sam Spade, a private investigator from San Francisco, agrees to help a young girl in the search for her sister. The case looks trivial, but by evening Spade becomes a suspect in the murder of his partner and finds himself embroiled in a dangerous hunt for a priceless statuette that disappeared centuries ago... "The Maltese Falcon" is Dashiell Hammett's most famous novel, written in the noir style, and the first of a series of works about private detective Sam Spade. The novel is included in the list of the "100 best detective novels" and has been called by literary critics "the greatest American detective story of all time." . A classic of the detective genre, the novel "The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett is recognized as "the greatest American detective story of all time" and is included in the list of "100 best detective novels". – Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was an American writer, journalist, literary critic, and former private investigator. One of the founders of the "cool detective" genre. His novels, such as "The Glass Key", "The Thin One", "The Red Harvest", have become detective classics. – An exciting story about a private detective Sam Spade, who decides to help a young girl in search of her sister. Soon, he becomes a suspect in the murder of his partner and finds himself embroiled in a dangerous pursuit of a priceless artifact that disappeared centuries ago. – The novel is written in the noir style: atmospheric, tense, with sharp dialogues and ambiguous characters. – The work formed the basis of John Huston's iconic 1941 motion picture, which is considered the first classic noir film. – An edition of the "Exclusive Classics" series in a convenient compact format with a recognizable design.