The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The title was chosen for our wonderful library's Big Read.  I guess I was 1 of the few people in American who not only had not read the book but have never seen the movie.  I can't say that I have been a fan of the detective novel genre but it was a fun read.  Of course even though I have not seen the movie, Sam Spade sounded like Humphrey Bogart in my head.  Can't say he matched Hammett's description though - which I think is one of the things that distinguishes the detective novel from the mystery novel.  In this book, we get the kind of details of every individual that would allow us to pick them out in a line-up but little internal dialog or back story.  It's all about the plot - all action - made for the movies - a great escape.