Hammett, Dashiell

The first of the "hard-boiled detective" or "noir" school, Samuel Dashiell Hammett wrote 1930s crime stories, many featuring the nameless "Continental Op". His heroes are bitter, realistic, and brutal, but scrupulously honest, "knights in rumpled trenchcoats". He is probably most famous for "The Maltese Falcon", filmed as a classic movie by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade.