Avery Hutchins's Reviews > The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest

All of the books in this collection are wonderful, and it is a great volume. But the best one, by far, is The Maltese Falcon. How can a book with such an ambiguous ending and such despicable characters become one of the my absolute favorites? This book is great because it is non-linear, muddled and timeless. It is noir that takes place in the Depression era of LA, but it still holds its own and fits snuggly with such great modern books as Saroff's Paper Targets: Art Can Be Murder and Woodrill's Winter's Bone. And San Franciso in the 20's must have been a wild, lawless place. And that confusion seeps into Hammett's expert plotting. No one really understands what is happening, and the crazy characters who have been searching for a mysterious and nearly mythical golden and jeweled statue are not searching for an object as much as they are searching for a place to park their endless angst. All of Hammet's books are worth reading and re-reading, but this one soars above the others.