Mystery

What if Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Maltese Falcon was really a memoir, that the Sam Spade character was based on Hammett himself and the falcon was the last case he worked as a Pinkerton? And what if the falcon found in the story wasn’t a fake after all but the real thing, truly ‘the stuff that dreams are made of’, with the power to bring good luck to whomever possesses it? What if the falcon stood on Hammett’s desk during the years he wrote but then he gave it away? And, finally, what if that is the real reason why Hammett never wrote another book?

These and many more ‘what ifs’ are the premise of author George McAlpine’s novel, Hammett Unwritten, written under the pseudonym Owen Fitzsimmons (or perhaps it’s the other way around). It ‘s a fun look at one of America’s greatest writers and the mystery of why he stopped writing.

McAlpine (or should I say Fitzsimmons) not only looks at Hammett’s real life, his drinking, his womanizing, his relationship with Lillian Hellman, his politics, and most importantly, his writer’s block but he also brings to life many of the characters from The Maltese Falcon: Brigid, the Fat Man, and Cairo for example. McAlpine does a nice job of recreating the kind of noir dialogue which made Hammett famous, the story is well-plotted and entertaining and it kept my interest throughout. In Hammett Unwritten, he has taken the writer’s block and somehow turned it into a very interesting and compelling mystery. Sure, the story’s improbable but in the words of the original Sam Spade I can only say, ‘don’t worry about the story’s goofiness. A sensible one’…well, it just wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. ( )

I've always wondered why Hammett stopped writing books after his early fiction successes. This short novel tries to address the reason in a clever and intriguing way. I won't play the spoiler and go into the plot. I learned some interesting personal things about "Dash" although I don't know how accurate they are since this is a novel. He does a lot of drinking and reflecting back on his youthful days as a Pinkerton detective. Hammett Unwritten is a fast read. ( )