A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.

When major womanizer Sam Spade's secretary tells him that the new customer waiting outside his office is a knockout, he wastes no time before seeing her. She's a knockout with money and she wants to spend it on his services as a private detective. Neither he nor his partner Miles Archer believes her story about wanting to protect her sister, but with the money she's paying, who cares? The job proves to be more dangerous than either of them expected. It involves not just the lovely dame with the dangerous lies, but also the sweaty Casper Gutman, the fey Joel Cairo, and the thuggish young Wilmer Cook. Three crooks, all of them looking for the statuette of a black bird they call the Maltese Falcon.—J. Spurlin