I apologize that I'm very late to the discussion. It's been an interesting week, and I was too busy with other life and work things to adjust to these times.
As mentioned previously, I read this book when the old club picked it. I did not find it to my tastes to continue on with other works such as
Thin Man. I have, however, seen the movie and enjoyed it more. My husband loves the old-time radio adaptations of Sam Spade, and I sometimes listen along with him. I enjoy those more than the book too.
I think that this book might be hard-boiled rather than noir, but the nuances of these distinctions are lost on me (then add further confusion that the film is film noir). Hard-boiled detective novels are not a genre that I have experience reading.
I did not realize that Hammett was a Pinkerton detective so he had real-life experience for his characters. I also did not know that Dashell Hammett's given name was Samuel! Another interesting thing I learned is that the book was serialized in five parts in Black Mask in 1929 and 1930 before being published as a book. I did not know that serialization was relevant in that time period.