Who Is This Man?


By Adam Kampe
Image of Humphrey Bogart from the Maltese Falcon
Frame from the 1941 public domain trailer for the Warner Bros. film The Maltese Falcon.
The Maltese Falcon hinges on the trials and and tribulations of our anti-hero, detective Sam Spade, who is brilliantly portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in the faithful film adaptation. However good the film may be, it does not come close to the experience of reading the book. What's more, the film omits a wonderful part: Spade's powerful story-within-a-story. In today's audio excerpt, we have the pleasure of eavesdropping on a conversation about the "Flitcraft parable" by our smart cadre of contributors, including crime writer Adrian McKinty and NPR all-star, Scott Simon. Please be sure to check out the entire half-hour Big Read audio guide.