The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet
Backlisted19 Kesä 2023

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet

We are joined by the crime novelist Mark Billingham to discuss his favourite book, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. First serialised in Black Mask magazine in 1929 and published the following year in book form by Alfred A. Knopf, it is widely considered to have inaugurated the hard-boiled genre of detective fiction. It introduces the tough, abrasive and morally ambiguous private detective, Sam Spade, who sent Dorothy Parker ‘mooning about in a daze of love such as I had not known for any character in literature since I encountered Sir Lancelot.’ The labyrinthine plot turns around the eponymous falcon of the title – a statuette so valuable that three people are killed in the search to retrieve it. But, as the discussion reveals, it is not the plot that has made the book a classic. Hammett’s San Francisco, filled with sharp-tongued dames, wise-cracking gumshoes, cops on the take and thugs on the lam, spawned a whole genre of noir novels and movies – including John Huston’s classic adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in 1941. In 1995, the Mystery Writers of America voted The Maltese Falcon the third greatest crime novel of all time. In this episode, illuminated by Mark’s own long experience of writing in the genre, we try to find out why. Timings (after any advert's): 08:43 - The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. *If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit backlisted.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(259)

All The Devils Are Here by David Seabrook part 2

All The Devils Are Here by David Seabrook part 2

Writer Jason Hazeley joins Andy, Una and Nicky for a celebratory investigation - or investigative celebration - of All the Devils Are Here, the ungovernable literary brainchild of the late David Seabr...

29 Syys 20251h 13min

The Eye Of the Beholder by Marc Behm

The Eye Of the Beholder by Marc Behm

Emmy Award-winning writer David Quantick (Veep, The Thick of It) joins Andy and Una for a discussion of Marc Behm's surreal thriller The Eye of the Beholder (1980). David last appeared on Backlisted a...

15 Syys 20251h 9min

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan (1971), the second Earthsea novel, is the subject of this episode. Joining Una and Andy is writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce, current Children’s Laureate. We look at h...

1 Syys 20251h 11min

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

Leonora Carrington's charming and surreal novel The Hearing Trumpet (1976, probably) is the subject of this episode. Joining Una, Andy and Nicky is author and lecturer Dr Paul March-Russell, who offer...

18 Elo 20251h 17min

A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

Dave Haslam and Melanie Williams join us to discuss A Taste of Honey (1958), Shelagh Delaney's first play, written and produced when the author was not yet 20 years old. To describe this as an expert ...

4 Elo 20251h 15min

The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore

The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore

The writer Alan Moore is the subject of this long-awaited episode. Joining Andy and Una is the author and dramatist Simon Guerrier, who has chosen The Ballad of Halo Jones, Moore's collaboration with ...

21 Heinä 20251h 7min

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

Angel (1957) by the English writer Elizabeth Taylor, is the subject of this special episode - and, as you'll hear, the next episode of Locklisted too.* Joining Andy and Una for a hotly disputed umptee...

8 Heinä 20251h 12min

The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner

The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner's The Corner That Held Them (1948) is the subject of this episode, almost ten years since Backlisted covered the same author's classic debut Lolly Willowes (1926). Joining Andy,...

24 Kesä 20251h 14min

Suosittua kategoriassa Vapaa-aika

nikotellen
antin-matka
the-harlin-show
ihan-oikeesti
sita
unicast
rss-nikotellen
eturivi
tahtitehdas
mutsiputki
everypodi
mysteeripodcast
terkuin-jenna
kaikkea-hyvaa
oral-sex
kasper-ja-mikko
himocast
20-30-40-podcast
teen-spirit
rss-viihde-media