"Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’" by Edgar award-winning author Joe Gores, reveals that detective 'Sam Spade' was wounded during World War I and that 'Iva', the wife of Spade’s partner 'Miles Archer', jilted Sam when he went off to war.The book has three separate episodes, set in 1921, 1925 and 1928, including a gold heist, bank fraud, a scheme to frame union members for a series of thefts and intrigues involving money that once belonged to the Chinese political leader Sun Yat-sen.
The 1941 Warner Bros "Maltese Falcon" feature, based on the novel of the same name by author Dashiell Hammett, was scripted and directed by John Huston, starring actor Humphrey Bogart as Spade. The film was Huston's directorial debut and nominated for three Academy Awards.
The 'film noir' followed the San Francisco private detective's dealings with three adventurers who compete to obtain a jewel-encrusted statuette of a falcon, originating with the Knights Templar during the 16th Century...
