The Maltese Falcon
A Hard-Boiled San Francisco Mystery of Greed, Deception, and Moral CompromiseBy Dashiell Hammett
Length7h 52m
About this audiobook
Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (1930) is a foundational hard-boiled detective novel, transforming the private-eye story through terse prose, moral ambiguity, and an atmosphere of pervasive distrust. Its plot follows San Francisco investigator Sam Spade as he pursues a jewel-encrusted statuette amid shifting alliances, calculated violence, and competing deceptions. Hammett's unsentimental dialogue and cinematic action reject the genteel puzzle mystery, locating crime within a corrupt urban modernity where truth is provisional and justice carries a personal cost. The novel's tightly controlled narration, symbolic object, and psychologically opaque characters establish conventions that would define American noir. Hammett drew upon his experience as a Pinkerton detective, bringing firsthand knowledge of surveillance, criminal methods, institutional pressures, and the uneasy relationship between private investigation and public law. His work also reflects the social and cultural disillusionment of the interwar period, when rapid urbanization, Prohibition-era criminality, and economic instability challenged traditional ideals of order. Although Hammett's style is famously economical, its apparent simplicity conceals a sophisticated critique of power, loyalty, and masculine performance. The Maltese Falcon is essential reading for anyone interested in detective fiction, modern American literature, or the development of film noir. It offers the pleasures of a relentlessly intricate mystery while rewarding close attention to its language, ethical tensions, and portrayal of a society governed by suspicion. Readers will find in Sam Spade both a compelling protagonist and an unsettling embodiment of the novel's compromised moral world.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (119.6K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreMystery and Thriller
Length7 hrs 52 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 1, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Library of Masterpieces - 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
12XI. The Fat Man
2I. Spade & Archer
13XII. Merry-Go-Round
3II. Death in the Fog
14XIII. The Emperor’s Gift
4III. Three Women
15XIV. La Paloma
5IV. The Black Bird
16XV. Every Crackpot
Show all chaptersShow less
6V. The Levantine
17XVI. The Third Murder
7VI. The Undersized Shadow
18XVII. Saturday Night
8VII. G in the Air
19XVIII. The Fall-Guy
9VIII. Horse Feathers
20XIX. The Russian’s Hand
10IX. Brigid
21XX. If They Hang You
11X. The Belvedere Divan
More from Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett8h 39m$2 · $0.00
The Maltese Falcon (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett9h 13m$2 · $0.00
The Glass KeyDashiell Hammett6h 49m4.0 (19.2K)$1 · $0.00
Red HarvestDashiell Hammett8h 15m4.1 (31.8K)$1 · $0.00
The Dain CurseDashiell Hammett9h 8m3.9 (11.9K)$1 · $0.00
The Thin ManDashiell Hammett6h 46m4.0 (47.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Dashiell Hammett (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett37h 48m4.5 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The Thin Man (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett8h 19m4.1 (246)$2 · $0.00
Dashiell Hammett - Der Engel vom ersten StockDashiell Hammett1h 24m3.2 (13)$13 · $0.00
The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett6h 39m4.0 (154.4K)$12 · $0.00
La maldición de los DainDashiell Hammett6h 49m3.9 (10.5K)$6 · $0.00
Nick Charles, detectiveDashiell Hammett7h 16m4.0 (49.3K)$6 · $0.00
El halcón maltésDashiell Hammett8h 31m4.0 (138K)$5 · $0.00
La llave de cristalDashiell Hammett7h 45m4.0 (19.2K)$6 · $0.00
Cosecha rojaDashiell Hammett6h 47m4.1 (38.4K)$5 · $0.00
Dashiell Hammett - Sam Spade ermitteltDashiell Hammett1h 13m4.0 (33)$13 · $0.00
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1Daisaku Ikeda7h 46m4.7 (669)$12 · $0.00
The ReunionJana Deleon6h 31m4.6 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
To Hold and ProtectSandra Owens7h 59m4.6 (1.1K)$8 · $0.00
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Complete Edition)Arthur Conan Doyle12h 28m4.6 (286.7K)$2 · $0.00
Farewell My Lovely (Annotated)Raymond Chandler10h 37m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
Olympic Mountain PursuitJodie Bailey5h 55m4.6 (638)$12 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
Deadly Badlands PursuitSharee Stover5h 53m4.6 (361)$12 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
AngelAnita Waller10h 30m4.6 (672)$30 · $0.00
The BorderDon Winslow29h 8m4.5 (35.7K)$53 · $0.00
FlashpointCatherine Coulter11h 38m4.5 (11.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Fang Si-Chi's First Love ParadiseYi-Han Lin8h 25m4.5 (4K)$26 · $0.00
The Rose CodeKate Quinn16h 2m4.4 (493.7K)$33 · $0.00
No Woman Left BehindJulie Moffett8h 49m4.5 (3K)$25 · $0.00
CovertJanie Crouch6h 15m4.5 (2K)$12 · $0.00
Cold Case InvestigationNicole Helm5h 30m4.6 (321)$5 · $0.00
You may also like
The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett3h 18m4.0 (156.7K)$20
The Little SisterRaymond Chandler8h 47m4.1 (24.7K)$2 · $0.00
Hard Cold WinterGlen Erik Hamilton8h 33m4.0 (1.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett6h 39m4.0 (154.4K)$12 · $0.00
The Good Thief’s Guide to AmsterdamChris Ewan7h 16m3.6 (5.1K)$22 · $0.00
The Witness for the ProsecutionAgatha Christie52m4.1 (5.3K)$11 · $0.00
The Confessions of Arsène LupinMaurice Leblanc7h 57m4.0 (2.6K)$2.30 · $0.00
The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett6h 15m4.0 (146K)$15
Morse’s Greatest Mystery and Other StoriesColin Dexter6h 56m3.8 (3K)$20
The Teeth of the TigerMaurice Leblanc14h 51m4.0 (1.2K)$2.30 · $0.00
NemesisJo Nesbo13h 38m4.0 (99.8K)$33 · $0.00
Close to DeathAnthony Horowitz9h 12m4.1 (39.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Dashiell Hammett (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett37h 48m4.5 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Close to DeathAnthony Horowitz9h 12m4.1 (39.1K)$29 · $0.00
A Murder in HollywoodMichael Crichton writing as John LangeTM4h 42m3.6 (1.1K)$20
The Maltese Falcon (Annotated)Dashiell Hammett9h 13m$2 · $0.00
Chasing his own shadowRaine Tirkkonen1h 36m$11 · $0.00
The Lady in the Lake (Annotated)Raymond Chandler9h 42m4.3 (46)$2 · $0.00
The Winning ClueJames Hay7h 51m3.4 (39)$2 · $0.00
Classic Radio’s Greatest Shows, Vol. 2Hollywood 3605h 47m4.3 (14)$17