THE MALTESE FALCON

Novel and short story writer Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland on 27 May, 1894.  He was described as “the dean of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction” in the New York Times.

He created Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man and The Continental Op in The Dain Curse.

He was a war veteran and a political activist who was blacklisted for refusing to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in the era of McCarthyism.

Hammett died at 66 in a Manhattan hospital of lung cancer and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He more than made his mark in literature and films.

From The Thin Man: “The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”