The Maltese Falcon

Plot Summaries by Chapter
by Dashiell Hammett

Chapter 1:  Spade & Archer

• Miss Wonderly hires Sam Spade, a private detective, to reunite her with her sister, Corinne, who is with Floyd Thursby, who is described by Miss Wonderly as dangerous.  Also, the sister has a dark past.
• The plan is for Miss Wonderly to meet Thursby at night at the hotel, and for Miles Archer, Spade’s partner, to follow Thursby, with the hope of being led to Corinne.

Chapter 2: Death in the Fog

• Miles Archer is shot in the chest (“pump” = heart) from close range by one “pill” (bullet).  He breaks through the fence railing and falls down the hill.  His gun and cash are still on his body, which comes to rest in an alleyway (Burritt Street), off Bush and Stockton Streets in downtown San Francisco
• Same Spade tells Tom Polhaus, the investigating police officer (the “good” cop), about the job for Miss Wonderly.  Then, after telling Polhaus not to crowd him, Spade leaves (18).
• Spade instructs his secretary, Effie Perrine, to notify Miles’ wife, Iva, who Spade wants to avoid.
• Officer Polhaus comes to Spade’s apartment, with Lieutenant Dundy (the “bad” cop), who is suspicious of Spade.  After pressing Spade, the two officers inform him that Floyd Thursby was shot outside a hotel in the middle of the night.  He was shot four times in the back, with a .44 or .45, from across the street.  There were no witnesses.  Thursby was wearing a Luger in a shoulder-holster.  He had been at the hotel a week.
• Spade claims to have no knowledge of Thursby.  Lieutenant Dundy tells Spade “. . . you’ll get a square deal out of me, and most of the breaks” (25).

Chapter 3: Three Women

• Iva Archer, Miles’ wife, is waiting at Spade’s office.  Effie Perrine recounts to Sam her visit to Iva per his instructions.  She says that Iva had just arrived home when Effie got there, due to her clothes and bed sheets.  Sam insists, however, that Iva did not kill Miles.
• Sam sees Iva in his office.  It is clear that Sam and Iva have been having an affair, and thus each had a motive to kill Miles. 
• After Iva leaves, Effie and Sam discuss Sam’s predicament—that he is a suspect.  Effie rolls Sam a cigarette.
• Spade goes to Miss Wonderly’s hotel, the St. Marks, and finds that she has checked out that morning. 
• The hotel detective tells Spade that Wonderly checked in the previous Tuesday from New York, with no trunk, only bags; that no phone calls were charged to her room, nor did she receive much mail; that she was seen with only a tall, dark man, age 36 or so; that she went out 9:30 that morning, returned an hour later, paid her bill, and had her bags carried out to a car, probably a hired Nash touring car.  The forwarding address was the Ambassador, Los Angeles.
• Spade returns to his office to find that Miss Wonderly called, wants to see Spade, and is at the Coronet Hotel on California Street, apartment 1001, under the name Miss Leblanc. Spade burns the paper with the info, and leaves.

Chapter 4: The Black Bird

• At the Coronet, Miss Wonderly admits her real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy and that the story about a sister was a lie.  Spade says he didn’t believe the story, only her $200.  When O’Shaughnessy pleads with Spade for help and bemoans the death of Miles Archer, Spade responds by noting that Brigid O’Shaughnessy is a good liar and a dangerous person.
• O. recounts what happened the previous night: She went to dinner with Floyd Thursby, returned to the hotel, then watched Miles Archer follow Thursby down the street.  She woke the next morning, went to breakfast, saw the newspaper headline of Miles death, then returned to her hotel.  She mentions that her room had been searched the previous day while she was at Sam Spade’s office.
• Spade says he needs to know more if he is to help her.  O. indicates that she met Floyd Thursby in the Orient, and came with him to San Francisco from Hong Kong the previous week; and that Thursby betrayed her, though she won’t give the details.  She describes Thursby as always armed and careful in safeguarding his room before retiring to bed, and she states Thursby is certainly the one who killed Miles. 
• O. does indicate that her life is at stake, but she won’t give Spade anything beyond that.  Spade makes to leave but then sits back down and asks how much money O. has.  He takes it all and tells her to hock her jewelry.
• Spade sees a man about the possibility of not cooperating with police under the guise of privileged secrets between him and his client.
• Spade returns to the office with optimism.   Effie tells Spade to trust Miss O’Shaughnessy, and warns him not to bleed her dry of money.
• Joel Cairo arrives in Spade’s office.  He has Levantine features, a high-pitched thin voice, sits primly, dresses neatly and extravagantly, and carries a scent of chypre, a perfume that originates in the Mediterranean. (Chypre is French for Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean.)  Along with other characterizations of Joel Cairo, he has a feminine quality. 
• Cairo expresses his condolences for Archer’s death, then indicates he would like to pay Spade $5000 for the recovery of a black statuette.
• After Effie says goodnight and leaves, Cairo pulls a pistol on Spade.

Chapter 5:  The Levantine (This word suggests a Middle Eastern origin, such as Lebanon, Syria, or Israel.)

• Spade takes the gun away and punches out Cairo, then examines the contents of Cairo’s pockets.  Items such as Arabic writing and Chinese coins suggest world travels.  Cairo also has a newspaper article on the deaths of Archer and Thursby, as well as Spade’s office and home addresses.
• Cairo regains consciousness.  Spade agrees to work for Cairo: $5000 if Spade can find the black statuette.  In the course of the conversation, another unnamed person is mentioned as involved in the pursuit of the black statuette.

Chapter 6:  The Undersized Shadow

• Later on, Spade leaves his office and is followed by an “undersized youth of twenty or twenty-one” (54).
• At a theatre, Cairo says that he does not recognize the youth, so Spade posits that the youth “might be one of the others” (57).
• Spade shakes the tail, and goes to Brigid O’Shaughnessy.  A long conversation ensues in which O. plays the part of the weak, vulnerable girl, which Spade sees through as a pretense. 
• He tells O. about Cairo’s offer of $5000 for the black bird, his first mention of the statuette, which upsets O., who acts as if Spade knew all along she was pursuing the bird.  O. then accuses Spade of being disloyal; on the other hand, Spade is frustrated by her lack of candor and trust
• Spade and O. arrange to meet Cairo at Spade’s apartment.  At the apartment, the youth is standing on a corner.  Iva Archer is in a sedan.  Spade speaks with Iva, who wants to come up.  Spade says no, so Ida drives off.

Chapter 7:  G in the Air

• Spade tells O. the story of a man named Flitcraft, who left his family and suburban life after he was almost hit by a beam falling from a building.  After coming to San Francisco, he “wandered around and then drifted back to the Northwest” (66).  Thereafter, he married another woman, started another family, and settled back into the same predictable suburban life.
• Cairo arrives.  Discussion turns to the “falcon.”  O. asks Cairo if he is prepared to give them $5000 now if they (O and Spade?) turn over the falcon.  O. says that Thursby had hid it before he was killed, and that she thinks she knows where it is.  But both Cairo’s payment and O.’s knowledge are compromised when each is asked for promises to do the deal immediately.
• Cairo indicates he works for the bird’s owner, whose name is noted as G.  O. says she is selling to get rid of it so she doesn’t end up like Thursby.
• Cairo and O. snipe at each other over the youth or “boy.”  It is suggested they fought over the boy’s affections, and Cairo won.  O. slaps Cairo, who slaps her back.  Spade grabs Cairo by the throat and disarms him, at which point the door-bell rings.
• Dundy and Polhaus are at the door.  They ask Spade if he was having an affair with Iva Archer.  He denies it, but Dundy calls him a liar.  After conversation around the likelihood of Spade having killed Archer and/or Floyd Thursby, Spade refuses to let the officers in, but a scream from within leads to their entering Spade’s apartment.

 
Ch. 8: Horse Feathers

• Upon entering, a long conversation occurs among all involved.  Cairo truthfully recounts events, but backs off when he is asked to talk about the big picture.  Spade ultimately says the three were playing a joke on the two officers, which would be hard to disprove if the three stick to the story.  Ultimately, Cairo wants to leave, Dundy asks why Cairo is so frightened to stay, and Spade asks for “his gun,” which is Cairo’s but Spade has said he lent to Cairo for the joke.  Spade gets the gun. 
• This odd scene seems to wed Spade to O’Shaughnessy, against Cairo; to interweave Spade further with the outstanding questions of the murders and the black bird; and to set up Spade as a chief suspect and enemy of the police.

Ch. 9: Brigid

• After checking to see if the youth is still downstairs, Spade returns to his apartment and asks Brigid O. to tell him about the falcon. 
• O. says first Cairo, then Thursby had offered her money to help each get possession of the falcon from a Russian named Kemidov.  After she discovers that Cairo has no intention of paying her, she joins Thursby in cutting Cairo out of the deal, only to fine Thursby intends to cut her out first.  She indicates that is why she came to Spade, for him to help her find the falcon.
• Spade calls O. a liar, she admits she is, then kisses Spade.

Ch. 10: The Belvedere Divan

• After spending the night with Brigid, Spade awakens and takes a key from the sleeping Bridgid’s clothes.  He goes to the Coronet Hotel and searches every square inch of her room, looking for but not finding the Falcon.  Then he returns with breakfast.
• After dropping off O. at home, Spade goes to the Belvedere Hotel, but Cairo is not in.  He sits down in the lobby next to the youth, who doesn’t want to talk.  Spade drops hints about wanting to speak with G.  After the youth curses Spade, Spade has Luke, the hotel detective, order the youth outside.  The youth leaves but promises to remember the two of them.
• In the lobby, Spade intercepts Cairo, who has spend the night questioned by Dundy.  Spade indicates Cairo and he should attempt to find out the location of the falcon from Brigid O’Shaughnessy.
• Spade returns to his office in the morning, where O. awaits him.  Privately, Effie Perine tells Spade that G. has called and will call again. 
• Brigid tells Spade that someone has searched her apartment and, thinking it might have been the youth or Cairo, she is afraid to return to her room.  Spade, who is the real culprit, arranges for her to stay with Effie Perine.

Ch. 11:  The Fat Man

• Spade returns to his office and immediately receives a call that seems to pertain to meeting Mr. Gutman (“G”)
• Iva Archer is waiting for Sam.  She says that Phil Archer, Miles’ brother, knows about the affair between Sam and Iva.  She also admits she called the police to stir up trouble for Sam.  Finally, she claims she was home the night Effie came to notify her of Miles’ murder.  Spade sends Iva to Sid Wise to figure out how to deal with the police when they come see her. 
• Spade goes to see Gutman.  The youth who has been following Spade opens the door. 
• Spade and Gutman share cigars and drinks.  Gutman voices approval at Spade’s attitude and forthrightness. 
• The two discuss the Black Bird’s value—well beyond $10,000.  Gutman says he knows what it is; Spade counters that he knows where it is.  Then they discuss whether Joel Cairo and Brigid O’Shaughnessy know what it is.  The implication is that Gutman will pay Spade more than the others for the bird because Gutman knows its true value.
• Spade declines to tell Gutman where the Black Bird is; Gutman declines to tell Spade what it is.
• Spade rants, seemingly pretending he is frustrated with Gutman’s lack of cooperation.  Spade says San Francisco is his turf.
• The youth interrupts Spade’s tirade, and Spade threatens to kill the youth if he gets in Spade’s way.  Then Spade gives Gutman a deadline of 5:30 to cooperate.  He leaves as the youth’s curses, his voice “not loud” but “bitter” (114).

Ch. 12:  Merry-Go-Round

• Spade goes to the office of Sid Wise, who has questioned Iva Archer.  We learn that, according to her, Iva followed Miles the evening he was murdered because she thought Miles was going on a date.  Instead, she saw him follow a man and woman, the latter someone she saw with Sam Spade.  Presumably, this was Brigid O’Shaughnessy and the man was Floyd Thursby.  After trips to Spade’s apartment, the movies, her home, Spade’s apartment again, and a restaurant, Iva finally returns home just before Effie Perine arrives.  Spade does not completely trust Sid Wise.  Spade’s anxiety might be showing.
• Spade returns to his office and finds Effie upset because Brigid never made it to Effie’s house.  Spade blows up at Effie, then apologizes.
• Spade tracks down the cab driver who picked up Brigid (Spade had been in the cab for a part of the trip.), who says he got her a copy of the newspaper The Call, then she redirected him to take her to the Ferry Building.
• Spade combs through a copy of The Call.  Several crimes are noted, and Spade checks the obituaries looking for clues. 
• Spade searches O’s apartment, and finds the jewelry box is empty. Perhaps she hocked her jewelry to raise money.
• The youth forces Spade at gunpoint to go to the apartment of Caspar Gutman.  Before entering, Spade disarms the youth.

Ch. 13: The Emperor’s Gift

• Gutman tells Spade about the history of the black bird.  The story is convoluted.  The outline is as follows:  During the Crusades (1000s), the Order of St. John was established in the Holy Land by monks for the care of Christians on pilgrimage.  Later, the Order became knights to defend these Christians from attack.  Eventually, the Order was expelled from Jerusalem, fled to the Mediterranean, and ultimately was given control of three islands, one of which was Malta.  As a gift to Emperor Charles, the Order made a falcon encrusted with valuable jewels.  This falcon was passed from hand to hand over the centuries, at a certain point covered with enamel, and finally forgotten as to its true nature.  Caspar Gutman might be the only one left who knows its true nature, and now Samuel Spade does as well.
• As the conversation continues, Gutman offers Spade either two payments of $50,000 (one now and one later), or one-quarter of the ultimate value of the bird.
• Spade continues to drink.  Drugged, he becomes wobbly.  The youth—now known as Wilmer—trips Spade and kicks him in the temple.  Spade is unconscious.

Ch. 14: La Paloma (= the Dove –or--  the Pigeon)

• Spade returns to his office, to find Effie waiting for him as he instructed.  He tells her what happened, including that Gutman must have wanted him out of the way for 12 hours; otherwise, Gutman would have killed him.  Spade recounts the history of the Falcon.  (He has a tremendous memory.)  Effie is excited by the mystery of it all.  Spade sends Effie to read the history to her cousin, a historian at Berkeley, to find out if there is anything to the story.
• Spade goes to the Alexandria, where he is told Gutman has not checked out and had arrived 10 days earlier.
• Spade goes to the Belvedere and searches Cairo’s room, where he finds a piece of the Call newspaper torn out in the section listing ship arrivals.  He gets a copy at the Call office and narrows it down to six ships, then underscores the one arriving from Hongkong (from where Cairo had his hat manufactured).
• Spade uses the phone to arrange meetings with Sergeant Tom Polhaus and with Mr. Bryan, the District Attorney, then calls Sid Wise to check on him to make sure Spade is okay after the meeting with Bryan. 
• Effie tells Sam her brother says all the facts of the Black Bird history seem authentic.  Effie tells Sam that upon her return by ferry, a ship was on fire and in the process of being towed out to see.  It was named La Paloma, which is the ship that had been scheduled to arrive from Hongkong.

Ch. 15: Every Crackpot

• Spade meets with Tom Polhaus.  Polhaus says that Thursby shot miles, as proven by the match between the a unique Webley seen in Thursby’s room by a bellhop the morning of the murders, and the bullet that killed Miles Archer.
• Spade and Polhaus go back and forth as to Dundy’s suspictions of Spade’s involvement in the murders.
• Polhaus says they dug up Thursby’s record:  He was a St. Louis gunman as part of the Egan mob, was imprisoned for robbery and pistol-whipping a woman.  Then he went to work as a bodyguard for Dixie Monahan,  who was in the gambling business and didn’t pay some debts.
• Spade discovers that Cairo was not interrogated by the police “all night,” but for less than a couple of hours.
• Spade, as agreed, meets Mr. Bryan, the District Attorney, who tells Spade that all he needs to crack the case is the name of the person who hired Spade.  Spade won’t talk.
• Bryan pursues the angle of Thursby being Monahan’s bodyguard.  He has several possible motives for the murder of Thursby.
• Spade belittles these theories, refuses to give information, and states his only chance of clearing himself with the police is to solve the murders himself.  Spade leaves in a huff.
• As far as I can see, none of these theories—from Bryan and Polhaus—account for the murder of Miles Archer.  Is the idea that Thursby didn’t like being followed, panicked or plotted, and killed Miles?

Ch. 16:  The Third Murder

• Sam visits hotels but finds no one in.  He returns to his office, where Effie Perine is angry that Sam is not going to the dock to investigate the fire and what happened to Brigid O.  Spade goes, then returns.
• Later he discovers that Joel Cairo has checked out of the Belvedere, leaving behind an empty trunk in his room.
• Returning to his office, Spade recounts to Effie what he discovered on the ship: that Brigid had a meal with Captain Jacobi, who had earlier done some business uptown.  Thereafter, they were joined by Gutman, Cairo, and the Youth There was an argument and a gunshot, and then they all five left around midnight.  The Captain did not return, missing an appointment on board ship.
• Suddenly, a man enters, wounded and carrying a package wrapped in brown paper and tied with a rope.  He falls to the floor, dead, shot several times in the chest.  Spade unwraps the bundle to find “the foot-high figure of a bird, black as coal and shiny where its polish was not dulled by wood-dust and fragments of excelsior” (163).
• Effie and Sam are mesmerized by the recognition that this is the Maltese Falcon, so much so that Spade does not realize he is standing on the dead man’s hand.  At that moment, the phone rings.  Effie relates to Sam that it was Brigid O’Shaughnessy, who was in distress and got cut off, but was able to say that she was at the Alexandria (Gutman’s hotel).  Effie insists Spade go to help her.  Before leaving, Spade will take care of the Falcon, and leaves explicit directions—well-thought out-- for Effie as to how to handle the body and the police when they arrive.

Ch. 17: Saturday Night

• Spade puts the Maltese Falcon in a safety box at a terminal, then mails the ticket for the box to a post office box.
• Spade goes to the Alexandria, where he finds Gutman’s daughter drugged.  She is able to tell him that Brigid needs his help at 26 Ancho in Burlingame.
• After calling the Emergency Hospital about the girl, Spade hires a car, goes to Burlingame, and finds a dark house that has not been visited in weeks.  Sensing a wild goose chase, he returns to the hotel to find that there was no girl found in the room after Spade left.
• Spade tells Effie what happened.  Effie tells Spade everything went well with the police and the dead body, but when she was taken to the police station, she saw the youth there, who Spade describes as “a bad egg, that lad—poison” (175).
• Spade returns to his apartment to find Brigid waiting outside for him, panting.  Upon entering the apartment, they find Gutman “smiling benevolently” (176), and Wilmer and Cairo appear carrying guns.

Ch. 18: The Fall-Guy

• In his conversation with Gutman, Spade reveals his understanding of the recent events: that Gutman and the others were trying to get Spade out of the way so they could find Jacobi (and the Black Bird) before Jacobi found Spade.  (It is unclear if “the others” includes Brigid O’Shaughnessy, and it is unclear why Jacobi would know of Spade or want to give the Black Bird to Spade.)
• Spade says he will be ready to make the transaction (money for the Black Bird) as soon as they have a “fall-guy,” in other words, someone to take the rap for the three murders, so that the police will stop investigating.  Spade also indicates that his behavior will only be tolerated by the police if Spade can turn over the murderer.  Spade makes an argument for giving Wilmer, the youth, to the police.  Wilmer gets agitated, and threatens to shoot Spade, who uses his knowledge of the whereabouts of the Black Bird to hold Wilmer off.
• When Gutman resists the idea, Spade suggests to give the police Cairo, though Cairo is not as strong a candidate as Wilmer.  Cairo, in turn, suggests Brigid O’Shaughnessy, which Spade is willing to accept if Brigid “can be rigged for the part” (189).
• At a standstill, Cairo then whispers in Gutman’s ear—apparently plotting against Wilmer—after which Cairo, Gutman and Spade subdue Wilmer.  Spade punches Wilmer twice, who is now unconscious.  Cairo then attacks Spade, who fights off the Levantine.  Spade picks up both guns.
• Spade gives Gutman an ultimatum: agree to Wilmer as the fall guy and pay me for the Falcon, or “I’ll turn the falcon and the whole Goddamned lot of you in” (193).
• Gutman agrees.

Ch. 19: The Russian’s Hand

• Everyone waits for the morning.  In the meantime, Spade insists that Gutman relate what happened so he can form a credible story for the police. 
• In brief, Gutman says Wilmer, the youth, killed Thursby (after Thursby presumably killed Miles Archer) because Gutman believed that would make Brigid O’Shaughnessy, having lost her protection, consider joining Gutman in profiting from the Black Bird.  (Previously, Brigid had given the falcon to Captain Jacobi of the ship La Paloma, and she took a faster ship with Cairo from Hongkong to the San Francisco.)
• Cairo joined forces with Gutman.  Cairo had seen a notice in the newspaper of the arrival of La Paloma and recalled that Brigid and Captain Jacobi had been seen together in Hongkong, and put two and two together.
• Gutman, Wilmer and Cairo indeed went to La Paloma.  Gutman thought he had an agreement with O’Shaughnessy to turn over the falcon, but she and Jacobi slipped away with the bird.  (During the meeting on the ship, Wilmer had searched the ship for the bird, and, accidentally or not, set the ship on fire.)
• Gutman and Wilmer located O. and Jacobi at O.’s apartment, but this time Jacobi slipped out the window with the falcon.  Wilmer, who had been sent downstairs, shot Jacobi, but a police officer appeared, so Wilmer backed off and Jacobi got away in a car.  (Wilmer ends up at the police station, seen by Effie after she notified the police about the body.)  Then Gutman “persuaded” Brigid to reveal that she asked Jacobi to take the Black Bird to Spade, at which point Brigid called Spade and sent him on a wild goose chase, hoping to keep Jacobi from delivering the bird.
• Gutman asks for the $10,000 back from Brigid before she goes inside, and discovers one $1000 bill is missing.  Spade, after having Brigid strip, makes Gutman admit he palmed it (in an attempt to create a disagreement between Spade and Brigid).
• The morning comes and Effie Perine delivers the statuette.  The bird is unwrapped and a pocket knife is used to chip away the enamel covering, only to reveal that the falcon is made of lead.  It’s a fake. 
• After Cairo berates Gutman for his stupidity, Gutman, philosophical, resolves to go on to Constantinople to continue his pursuit of the Maltese Falcon.   It is noted that Wilmer has slipped away during the drama.
• Gutman insists on retaining the $10,000, though Spade does get $1000 for his trouble.
• Gutman and Cairo depart, leaving Spade and Brigid O’Shaughnessy alone.

Ch. 20:  If They Hang You

• Spade calls the police and tells Polhaus about Gutman and the others so Polhaus can arrest them before they flee.
• Spade tells Brigid they have to speak about what happened before the police arrive, because they are both facing the gallows.  Ultimately, Spade gets Brigid to admit that she killed Miles Archer.  To Brigid’s horror, Spade tells her she is the fall-guy, and if she doesn’t hang by her pretty neck, he will wait for her; if she does hang, he will always remember her. 
• Spade and Brigid have a long conversation about their love, through which we see Spade as, first and foremost, a detective whose responsibility is to find the killer of his partner. Also, we sense Spade has had emotional trauma, perhaps with a woman, in the past--this is a unique moment in the novel—and has been jaded on love.  We are still left with a character who is hard-boiled, and after Spade turns Brigid O’Shaughnessy over to the police, Effie’s coldness towards Sam might reflect her distaste for Spade’s callousness toward Iva and Brigid.