Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon Essay Assignment One rule that was used particularly well in The Maltese Falcon would be rule number six; this rule states that a detective novel must contain a detective, also making them actually detect clues to solve the mystery. Sam Spade was this detective. One example of Dashiell Hammett using this rule would be by making the investigators in this book search for clues. Like when “Ms. Wonderly” came in and asked Spade and Archer for help. Archer went to shadow Ms. Wonderly but ended up getting shot, so Spade had to go to the crime scene and try to gather little clues of what might have happened. Also Spade questioned people and tried to gather all the information he could, to find out what happened to Archer
Some places that he went to would be “Ms. Wonderly’s” hotel, and then getting there only to find out that she is at a different hotel under the name “Lablanc”. So he went there to meet her.
Sam also had to go to Cairo’s hotel. Following that he went to Mr. Gutman’s suite. At Mr. Gutman’s suite Sam learned that the falcon was worth a lot more than the five thousand dollars offered to him by Joel Cairo, but still did not understand why. At every location Sam was able to collect more clues. One last way that Hammett uses rule number five would be by having Spade question people, especially Brigid O’Shaughnessy (A.K.A. Ms. Wonderly and Ms. Lablanc). Brigid’s story from the beginning was a lie, even her name. Spade would not have been able to figure that out if it was for him constantly questioning her. By doing so, he also found out that she lied several times throughout the book, such as her name, her first two stories, what she knew about the falcon, and also about her connections with the people involved with the mystery.
Spade also found out clues by questioning Mr. Gutman, who told him about how valuable the falcon is. Samuel Spade was able to get to the bottom of this mystery by asking questions to people but not answering their