Sam Spade

Uncommon card · No. 140082

Sam Spade (Samuel Spade) is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. The Maltese Falcon, first published as a serial in the pulp magazine Black Mask, is the only full-length novel by Hammett in which Spade appears. The character, despite his scant appearances, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard-boiled private detective, such as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less-than-glamorous detective, the Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, most notably his detached demeanor, keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice.

Read on Wikipedia · Image my own screen capture, Public domain