The Maltese Falcon first appeared in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929. Almost immediately it was acknowledged as not only a great crime novel but an enduring masterpiece of American fiction. Sam Spade is the archetypal tough, cynical Private Investigator, "able," as his creator explained, "to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent bystander or client." And what a client!--the irresistible and treacherous femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy.