Sam Spade is the fictional detective protagonist of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon.
Spade is a San Francisco private investigator whose partner, Miles Archer, is killed while pursuing a client’s case. The investigation becomes entangled with a search for a valuable jeweled statuette known as the Maltese Falcon. Spade must navigate deception among several people who want the object.
The novel helped define the hard-boiled detective tradition through its terse prose, morally complicated characters, urban setting, and professional investigator who operates outside the police department. Spade is not identical to Hammett, but the author’s experience as a Pinkerton detective informed his depiction of investigative work.
John Huston directed the famous 1941 film adaptation, in which Humphrey Bogart played Spade. That film is a separate work from the novel, though it closely follows the central plot and is regarded as a major American crime film.