Inventing the noir style

Bruce De Silva writing for the Associated Press says that there were two types of crime stories before "The Maltese Falcon". From IndianaLiving:

For lovers of the hard-boiled crime story, life began with the black bird. It was 75 years ago this month that "The Maltese Falcon" first appeared between hard covers, just weeks after it was published as a five-part serial in the pulp magazine "Black Mask."

To today's reader, Dashiell Hammett's masterpiece can seem vaguely antique, its characters too stereotypical: the cynical detective who works both sides of the law; his spunky and loyal secretary; the trench coat-draped gunman who talks from the side of his mouth; the wily femme fatale who manipulates men with the promise of sex. But to 1930s readers, every line was a revelation.

Sam Spade, Effie, Wilmer and Brigid O'Shaugnessy may be archetypes today, but Hammett was the man who first gave them breath. "The Maltese Falcon" is a novel of astounding originality that virtually invented the noir style...

Maltese Falcon turns 75