Authors > Dashiell Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author, credited for making popular the hardboiled detective genre.

Hammett used his first hand knowledge of the detective buisness to create complex and exciting plots and memorable and believable characters. He worked for the famed Pinkerton detective agency until tuburculosis forced him to find a less taxing form of work. His most famous novel, The Maltese Falcon, introduced Sam Spade, a surly, self-assured detective that defined the hard boiled character.

After a relatively short writing career of nine years, Hammett brought his works to Hollywood where a number of his characters and stories, especially Sam Spade, made the leap into immortality.