Maltese Falcon's Genre

The Maltese Falcon is usually categorized as a "detective novel". In this branch of fiction, the protagonist is some form of investigator who solves some manner of crime. To meet these qualifications, the novel features private investigator Sam Spade who investigates the theft of the Maltese Falcon, and two murders, wrapping everything up by the end of the novel.


A subset of the detective novel, Falcon could be called a private eye novel, again because Spade is not employed by an government agency. These novels explore the darker side of America, as the reading population's interest in the underworld was piqued by Al Capone's exploits in the 1920's.


Ronald Knox set forth the Ten Commandments of writing detective stories in 1929. Throughout the detective novel's Golden Age they were considered games. Games have rules, and thus, Knox's rules:

1. The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to know. - Brigid, served as both Shadow and Herald for this story. She was mentioned in the first few pages.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. - The Maltese Falcon passes this test.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable. - The Maltese Falcon passes this test.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end. - The Maltese Falcon passes this test.
5. No Chinaman must figure in the story. - Joel Cairo was a Greek, but no Chinaman figured prominently in the story
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right. - No pure accident helped Spade solve the mystery at hand. His intuition was brought on by the facts presented at hand. No instance of dues ex machina occurred, unless you count the Captain bringing the falcon to Spade.
7. The detective himself must not commit the crime.  - The Maltese Falcon passes this test.
8. The detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover.  - The Maltese Falcon passes this test, Spade was quite vocal about what he discovered throughout.
9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any thoughts which pass through his mind: his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.  - The Maltese Falcon passes this test, although more likely because Spade didn't have a Watson that lasted for long.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.  - The Maltese Falcon passes this test.

Thusly, I say that The Maltese Falcon is a shining example of the detective novel. I'm grateful someone went to the effort of codifying the genre so works of fiction can be readily defined.