Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A while back, mystery writer Robert Parker tried his hand at bringing Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe back to life. In this book, writer and former private eye Joe Gores takes on the equally daunting task of filling us in on Sam Spade's career prior to The Maltese Falcon. Gores prepared for this in a previous volume in which he has Spade creator Dashiell Hammett star in his own detective story.

In Spade and Archer, Gores succeeds in recreating the characters as well as the atmosphere of 1920s San Francisco. There are times, especially in the exchanges between Spade and police detectives Dundy and Polhaus, when the reader feels as if the dialogue was taken directly from Hammett with echoes from Bogart's on screen version of Spade. The plot has Spade chasing master criminal St. Clair McPhee over the course of 5 years while solving a series of lesser crimes. As always, the plot is secondary to the seedy atmosphere, snappy dialogue and interaction between the characters. All of this rings true to the hard-boiled tradition and allows the reader a passport back in time to witness the reinvention of the genre.

The only time I felt Gores misfired is in portraying a fight in which Spade is ambushed by 3 men variously wielding brass knuckles, a baseball bat and a knife. Spade not only dispatches all 3 but does so in less than a minute, resembling James Bond more than Hammett's shambling gumshoe.

More importantly, Gores fully captures the spirit of the hard-boiled detective: operating alone in the margins of the law, disguising a rigorous moral code with a rough and cynical exterior. In Spade, the reader can watch an archetype develop that is portrayed over the next 80 years, perhaps most fully realized today in Parker's Spenser series.

The book succeeds in its very ambitious goal. As a result, the reader can once again "walk the streets of San Francisco with the city's most memorable fictional character" as Booklist says. It was worth waiting for.

In the thoroughly entertaining, Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, the title characters brassily bandy about "booze, bribes, and biddies" in talk of field expenses They might well also talk "bullion, bimbos, and burglars" in a bull session about their investigative work. Or "treachery, tricks, and treasure." In a string of cases (presented in three parts) dealing with stolen British gold, grisly murders, union breaking, ship stowaways, bank fraud, the Bohemian Club, Chinese legends and nationalists, adultery, bootlegging, an elusive criminal mastermind, etc., this atmospheric and suspenseful novel covers select Sam Spade investigations in San Francisco over an eight-year period.

Joe Gores' prequel to The Maltese Falcon delivers pitch-perfect 1920s detective noir. As one reads one can almost see a (young) Humphrey Bogart-like Samuel Spade as he hitches his hip onto secretary Effie Perine's desk and "sweetheart"s her. Their introduction to one another is a don't-miss event. The FALCON cops, Dundy and Polhaus, also play their lived-in roles in SPADE & ARCHER, as does Spade's lawyer, Sid Wise, and it is a delight to see their histories fleshed out and them coming "alive" again in a seamless companion work.

Naturally Spade's back story with Miles and Iva Archer infuses the novel, and the author convincingly sets up the tensions within this percolating, complicated troika. Sam (who is 27 when the story starts) possesses brains, toughness, and survivor instincts. Freewheeling Miles, not so much, though he is, in Spade's estimation, " 'a good detective." And seemingly fickle Iva just doesn't want to be without a man in her bed. If anything in SPADE & ARCHER is underdeveloped it is the Archer arc. One hankers for bigger helpings of these two very different private eyes to understand their dynamic and what leads to events in Hammett's "sequel." Approaching the conclusion of ARCHER & SPADE, one may wonder if some pages were left out when both Iva and Miles are conspicuously absent. However, the book's final exchange between Spade and Effie provides felicitous and entirely justified cover. Still, the Archers could arguably have played more prominent roles in this novel.

SPADE & ARCHER's crystal clear prose vividly recreates hard-boiled Sam Spade's ever foggy San Francisco. The old days, when a phone call cost a nickel and a cup of coffee a dime, shimmer, even without the Golden Gate (which hadn't been built yet). It's a time when modern political correctness, social safety nets, and sweeping civil rights hadn't been dreamed up. It places us beside men in worsted wool suits who smoke constantly, drive Model Ts, and live in a less crowded society rife with the dangers fit to the time.

As a former private detective himself, Gores' experience beefs up the muscularity of Archer and Spade's operative work and also injects the complex cases Sam solves with a factual, down-to-earth credibility.

SPADE & ARCHER is a practically perfect novel that should take its place beside the famed THE MALTESE FALCON as unimpeachable Spade lore, and classic tough-guy detective literature. After all, what's not to love about cinematic Bogart/Spade dialogue like this:

" 'Where's the girl, Sam?'

"The tension went out of Spade. 'I've got her stashed.'

" 'Gimme her name so we can check her out,' said Dundy.

" '....Go out and find her yourself. I'm not stopping you.' "

4.7 stars.

This book isn't terrible, and Gores clearly loves Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, and San Francisco of the 1920s, but Gores' prequel is mostly valuable for showcasing how phenomenally talented Dashiell Hammett was. There are many things to like about this story, which covers seven years of Sam Spade's life, ending with a scene that overlaps an early scene of Hammett's classic. The action is very much in keeping with Hammett's style, in which bad things happen to people, but mostly off-screen, and sex is treated the same way. The pacing is also well-done, as the three major sections of this book each fly by briskly without wasting too much time on superfluous activity. I also like the idea of a shadowy villain who haunts Hammett's life for seven years, leaving the detective weary and jaded when the Maltese Falcon enters his life. The characters are treated with love, as the reader gets a bit of an explanation of why Effie Perine rolls Spade's cigarettes for him, why Spade has such prickly interactions with the local police in his most famous case, and why Spade began his affair with Iva Archer that added such an intriguing layer to his character in his original appearance.

Unfortunately, this book isn't very good on its own. I appreciate that Gores did a lot of research on old San Francisco, but it surfaces in awkward ways throughout the novel - for example, two characters will be having a conversation by a public pool, and they will trade trivia bits that show them to be intimately familiar with its dimensions, history, and engineering. It shoves the reader out of the story, and I think it's the sign of Gores' lack of confidence - characters are saying that a particular island is seven miles from Fisherman's Wharf, but they mean, "Please, please, Hammett fans, I promise I did my homework when I tackled this project, please don't hate me!" There are also some odd recurring phrases - did Hammett use the term "hooked his hip over/onto the corner of her desk," because Gores uses it no fewer than six times, and I lost the train of the narrative trying to figure out why Gores would overuse such a silly phrase. I also think that Gores can't quite pay homage to Hammett's wit and his knack for cruel but creative character descriptions.

Also, when the reader can slip past the shadow of Hammett's original work, then dive below the cluttered shield of too much research, the stories underneath are fairly lifeless pulp. I admire the pulp stories of the 1920s and 1930s that never got the attention that Hammett and Chandler drew (see The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps), but they lacked a certain vitality that set those two masters above their peers. Reading this prequel reminds me of how hard it is to write a noir story that is also great literature, and while it works as a love letter to Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade, it doesn't work as a story that Hammett himself might have written, and I don't really recommend this book to anyone but the most hardcore of Hammett fans.

It has been years and years since I've read The Maltese Falcon and I'm happy to say this story brought Sam Spade and Company right back into my mind, like I'd just finished yesterday. Mr. Gores has done Mr. Hammett proud. In The Maltese Falcon we see Sam Spade and the rest of the cast all grown up on the printed page. Mr. Hammett gave them no history, they were just there and he made them real. Still, I feel I know them better now. Who knew Sam fought in the war, though it's not hard to imagine.

The story opens with the Flitcraft case that Spade only mentions in The Maltese Falcon and we really get a sense of why the man disappeared and we get of the younger Sam Spade as well, we learn about his sense of right and wrong and we like it, I do anyway. We find out about Archer's wife and we see that Sam has feet of clay, still a good guy though.

We learn that Sam is brave, courageous and bold, that he's not squeamish, even then he doesn't think twice about sticking a burning cigarette into a bad guy's eye. You don't mess with Sam Spade. And we also learn a bit about Archer, a guy we don't like. I didn't like his wife much either. And most delicious of all we learn that Sam has no problem dealing out his own kind of justice. He can set a trap for a man, bury him deep and not think twice if he knows in his heart he's doing the right thing. This is a good book and I can't help but think that if Dashiell Hammett were alive today, he'd be saying, "Good work, Joe."

I started reading Joe Gores back in the 1970s when he was writing his Dan Kearney short stories for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, then began writing novels of the same. From there I discovered his other works, including HAMMETT, which was an excellent book and anchored in the time period.

With SPADE & ARCHER, Gores also makes use of the time period, making it all fresh and familiar while at the same time easing the reader into the world. When I read the original THE MALTESE FALCON, I was surprised at how little author Dashiell Hammett used point of view. The novel was stripped down, bare prose that focused on action and reaction. SPADE & ARCHER is the same, and that may be off-putting to some readers who like to crawl inside the skins of their characters.

The mystery is very intricate and well done. As Hammett did before him, Joe Gores also worked as a real-life private investigator. He brings his love of the craft and of the genre to this book. Hopefully it won't be the only one Gores writes in this time frame, or about the iconic Sam Spade.

Joe Gores' Spade and Archer ends at the exact point at which Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon begins. No spoilers will be revealed here; yet the transition to the story of the black bird is not as seamless as was undoubtedly intended.

We do find out why Spade distrusts Archer; but Archer would also distrust Spade if he knew about the latter's involvement with his wife. Spade is obsessed with Iva Archer in Gores' book; why, then, in Hammet's book, would Spade "wish that he'd never laid eyes on her" when Miles Archer was no longer an impediment to their romance?

To deal with Gores' book on its own terms, Effie Perrine is a well-written character, and her loyalty as Spade's secretary is well-developed. San Francisco history buffs will delight in the mentions of such real-life characters as labor leader Harry Bridges or the SFPD's Jack Manion, head of the Chinatown squad. Gores does succeed in recreating the San Francisco of the 1920s, with many period details; yet the descriptions of just how long it took to get from Point A to Point B on public transportation in those days also make a long "ride" for the reader.

By the end of the book, Spade's lawyer, Sid Wise, remarks that Spade is a "different man" than he was at the beginning. Gores seems almost hopeful in putting those words in Sid's mouth. For although Gores has developed a very good character in his private detective, he's a little too good, in the moralistic sense. The Samuel Spade that is presented in these pages does not seem quite hard enough, quite wily enough, to take on the case of the maltese falcon.

Who can forget the iconic Sam Spade, that terse, tough guy who prowled the streets of San Francisco in the 1930s? No doubt that with Spade Dashiell Hammett created a classic figure, a part of detective story. The Maltese Falcon in book form and on film have indelibly imprinted Spade upon our minds. Yes, we know a lot about this private eye - he's fearless, unlucky in love, fascinating, and smart.

But Spade sprung upon our literary scene full-blown; he's used to checking out backgrounds - what about his? The top flight author of 17 novels, including Hammett, and recipient of three Edgar Awards Joe Gores has given us a gift - "Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon." enabling us to meet Spade in 1921. We see him setting up his own agency, and hiring the 17-year-old Effie Perine as his secretary for the princely sum of $10 a week. Once he's assured that she'll learn how to roll a cigarette, he adds, "If you make it through the first month maybe you'll get a pay raise. If you earn it."

Of course, she more than makes it through the first month despite dealing with thugs, swindlers, incompetent cops, and almost every manner of human detritus while at the same time trying to look after her boss. Gores piles plot upon plot in his fascinating story, from smugglers to a runaway youth. He writes so succinctly, so crisply that you can almost hear Spade's rough voice as when he describes the dock, "In the bay Alcatraz was baying like an old hound, Land's End lighthouse was yapping back from beyond the Gate." Or, hear it his impression of an unknown secretary in the Flood Building who was "banging on a typewriter as if it were a faithless lover."

This story is a romp, great fun to read and apt tribute to the master, Dashiell Hammett.

- Gail Cooke

Joe Gores was a good choice to write this prequel to The Maltese Falcon His own Hammett (Crime Masterworks)showed he has a good grasp of the style and setting and he's ale to ape Hammett's prose pretty well. The real problem for me is that the book is basically three novellas that really only serve the purpose of setting up The Maltese Falcon, by themselves they really don't have much purpose. Creating scenarios to put the main players in place, Effie, Miles, and Polhaus all make their obligatory appearances in a meandering group of mysteries with a central foe that seems a better fit for a contemporary action movie-a psychopath killer who also can plan complicated capers. It all seems a bit too much for what turns out to be novel with little suspense. Nothing can happen to the main characters and without that possibility, the story needs to exciting and involving. This doesn't quite hit the mark. It's not a total misfire, Gores is a good writer and he keeps things moving, but the end result remains just what you expect.

In 1921 San Fransisco, Sam Spade quits the Continental Detective Agency to open up his own private investigative practice; partnering with Miles Archer who he knew married Sam's girlfriend Iva Nolan, when Spade volunteered for war service while he was serving overseas during the Great War. They hire Effie Perine as their secretary.

Sam works on a missing person's case as banking heir Henny Barber vanished, but the sleuth believes he took a ride on the San Anselmo passenger ship to the South Pacific. That case leads Sam into investigating stolen gold coins purloined on the San Anselmo. Though he hands the case to the cops on a gold platter the police blow the case allowing the mastermind to escape.

In 1925, insurance man Ray Kentzler surreptitiously hires Sam to determine the cause of death of banker Collin Eberhard as a homicide, a suicide or unfortunate accident. At the same time a friend of Effie, who still works for Spade & Archer, employs him to find her chest of Bergina.

In 1928 Mai-lin Choi seeks money stolen from her famous father who never recognized his offspring. Her efforts take Spade & Archer back to the 1921 stolen gold coins case and the mastermind of that heist.

This daring prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is a great historical private investigative tale that grips the audience from the onset as Spade goes into partnership with Archer. The story line is fast-paced with the sleuthing top rate. The tale would work as a superb one sitting stand alone even without its obvious roots, but the most fun is following the early days of characters who are in the Maltese Falcon as fans will relish Joe Gores' excellent homage to the classic.

Harriet Klausner

Actually quite good. The author's style comes quite close to Dashiel Hammet's, and this in itself makes for a fun read. Not a classic by any means, but good enough to keep on your bookshelf.