Spade and Archer
A prequel to 鈥楾he Maltese Falcon鈥� tells how this unlikely duo came to be.
Holmes and Watson. Spenser and Hawk. Shaggy and Scooby. Spade and Archer. Which one of these crime-fighting duos doesn鈥檛 belong?
No, actually, it鈥檚 not the cartoon. While Scooby has been known to steal Shaggy鈥檚 sandwiches, it鈥檚 hard to imagine a less felicitous pairing than Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The piggish Archer, as fans of 鈥�The Maltese Falcon鈥� know, didn鈥檛 last long as Spade鈥檚 partner. But why the two of them ever went into business together has been a mystery since Dashiell Hammett鈥檚 novel was first published in 1930.
鈥淚鈥檝e been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of,鈥� Hammett once quipped. The former Pinkerton detective has been called the dean of hardboiled detective novels, and the third movie of 鈥淭he Maltese Falcon鈥� (the one starring Humphrey Bogart) is considered the first example of film noir. Now, another detective-turned-writer 鈥� three-time Edgar Award winner Joe Gores 鈥� has written Spade and Archer, a prequel to 鈥淭he Maltese Falcon,鈥� detailing just how Spade ended up with Archer (and Archer鈥檚 wife, for that matter).
鈥淪pade and Archer鈥� is an authorized work, blessed by the Hammett estate, which can be a dicey prospect for readers. Such novels tend to be so tidy and reverential that the creativity gets squeezed right out of them. Happily, Gores鈥檚 labor of love is about as far removed from, say, 鈥淪carlett,鈥� (the sequel to 鈥�Gone with the Wind鈥�), as fans of either Gores or Hammett could wish.
After a brief opener in Spokane, the action begins in 1921 with Sam partially foiling a gold heist while searching for the runaway son of a rich banker. Sam recovers $50,000 of $125,000 stolen off the ship San Anselmo, and keeps Henny Baker from heading off to the South Seas. (Thanks to a botched operation by police Sergeant Dundy the criminal gets away.) Part 2 takes place in 1925, and Part 3 in 1928. The missing gold, the murderous mastermind behind the heist, and the banker鈥檚 son continue to crop up throughout the novel, as does Sam鈥檚 future partner, Archer, who, it must be said, doesn鈥檛 earn equal billing. He manages to stay alive in this book, but doesn鈥檛 appear much more than he did in 鈥淔alcon.鈥� Gores, however, manages to give Sam 鈥� and readers 鈥� several reasons to cordially detest him.
Gores, a noted Hammett scholar, tucks in little asides for fans 鈥� he includes famous quotes from 鈥淭he Maltese Falcon,鈥� such as, 鈥渁s if someone had taken the lid off life and let you see how it really worked,鈥� and echoes Hammett鈥檚 description of Spade, of the yellowish-gray eyes, as looking 鈥渞ather pleasantly like a blonde satan.鈥� For fun, he even has Spade operate briefly under the alias of 鈥�Nick Charles鈥� 鈥� the detective in Hammett鈥檚 more lighthearted (though just as quotable) 鈥淭hin Man鈥� series. And he鈥檚 got the staccato dialogue, the San Francisco underworld, the corrupt district attorney, the incompetent bully Dundy, and his far more professional subordinate, Tom Polhaus.
And despite enough action to keep modern fans鈥� pulses racing, Spade still isn鈥檛 likely to come in with pistols blazing: 鈥淚 think if you need to carry a gun, you鈥檙e doing a lousy job as a detective,鈥� he tells his former boss. (In a Q and A included with the afterword, Gores says he never met a private detective who did.)
The chief flaw of the novel: The femmes, they aren鈥檛 so fatal. Secretary Effie Perine is smart and adoring, Iva Archer is a boring bombshell, and the rest of the women range from victims to window dressing. (Or both 鈥� who says you can鈥檛 look your best while getting your throat cut?) The middle section, where we have both a 鈥済rieving widow鈥� stylishly dressed in pale blue, and her late husband鈥檚 mistress, a gorgeous secretary-turned-stock broker, seems ripe with possibility. The stock broker, Effie鈥檚 friend Penny Chiatros, even tries to get Sam on the trail of an ancient antiquity. The Chest of Bergina sounds almost as jewel-encrusted a MacGuffin as the Maltese Falcon. But alas, although the mystery itself is darkly resolved, neither woman seems able to muster enough deviousness to don the mantle noir. Paging Miss Wonderly, ASAP!
Still, why knock a book that incorporates everything from Sun Yat Sen to the works of Robert Louis Stevenson? Gores is actually a superior plotter to Hammett, although he isn鈥檛 quite his equal when
it comes to dialogue. (His female characters are especially likely to be laden with clunky exposition.) But that鈥檚 not really a criticism: Pound for pound, few writers could toss off as many memorable one-liners as Hammett (aside from William Goldman, of course).
And there is one important exception: Spade. I could hear Bogart鈥檚 genial cynicism purring throughout the novel, as the detective offers such nuggets of wisdom as: 鈥淣ever get between a widow and her husband鈥檚 money.鈥� It鈥檚 nice that, after all this time, you can still call a Spade a Spade.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.