Happy Birthday Dashiell Hammett

The father of hard-boiled detective stories in America, Dashiell Hammett is celebrating today his 123rd birthday. The author was born on May 27, 1894 in Maryland.

Dashiell Hammett is best known for his Sam Spade series, which includes the immensely popular book The Maltese Falcon, in 1930. The book was so popular that it was made into three movies thereafter, in 1931, 1936 and the best-known movie with Humphrey Bogart in 1941.

I have watched the third movie many years ago and I liked it so much that once I’ve learned it was made based on a book, I hunted it down and read it. And my love for Sam Spade really took off.

Of course Sam Spade is not the only Dashiell Hammett achievement. The author has also written the Continental Op series, which includes The Red Harvest and The Dain Curse, and many other books during his lifetime.

During his lifetime he was not only a writer, but also a private detective.

Dashiel Hammett died January 10, 1961, in New York, leaving a one heck of a legacy, being one of the founding fathers of detective fiction of we know today.