Character guide

Sam Spade

major

Also known as Spade, Mr. Spade, Samuel Spade, Sammy

Spade runs a shabby office with a loyal secretary and a partner he doesn't much like, working angles as coolly as he rolls cigarettes. When his partner is shot and a beautiful client's story keeps shifting, his professional detachment curdles into something more personal and more dangerous. He matters because every schemer in the book—Gutman, Cairo, Brigid—must go through him to reach the falcon, and he knows it.

Brigid O'Shaughnessy

major

Also known as Miss Wonderly, Wonderly, Brigid, O'Shaughnessy

She arrives in Spade's office as Miss Wonderly, all timid smiles and unfinished sentences, and keeps changing her name and her story as the bodies pile up. Her helplessness is a performance, and Spade knows it, yet he keeps circling back to her—part lust, part curiosity, part something he won't name. Her shifting allegiances drive the middle of the book, as each new lie redraws the map of who wants the falcon and why.

Casper Gutman

major

Also known as Mr. Gutman, Gutman, Rhea Gutman

Gutman holds court from a padded rocking chair, purring out confessions and flattery while his boy Wilmer does the ugly work. He is candid, almost genial, about murder and betrayal—and utterly single-minded about the black bird, which he has pursued across continents and decades. His willingness to explain his own crimes to Spade makes him the book's most seductive monster and its chief source of truth about the falcon's history.

Joel Cairo

supporting

Also known as Mr. Joel Cairo, Mr. Cairo, Cairo, Joe Cairo

Cairo walks into Spade's office with a cane, a gardenia, and a story about a missing enameled bird, and his nerve frays the moment things go wrong. He schemes alongside Gutman while nursing his own claim, and his shrill accusations against Brigid expose how little loyalty holds the conspirators together. His panic and his vanity make him the falcon hunt's most volatile piece, forever threatening to blow the whole arrangement apart.

Wilmer Cook

supporting

Also known as Wilmer, The boy Wilmer

Wilmer trails targets, waits outside hotels, and pulls the trigger when Gutman gives the word—then sulks when Spade treats him like a child. He is fiercely loyal to the fat man who keeps him close, but his youth and his temper make him a liability as much as a weapon. When Spade demands a fall-guy to close the case, Wilmer's future becomes the currency of the bargain, and the boy knows it.

Effie Perine

supporting

Also known as Effie

Effie announces clients, teases her boss, and keeps the agency running while Spade chases the falcon through San Francisco's fog. She is loyal to Spade without being blind to him, and her easy banter with him is one of the few warm things in the book. When the case turns deadly, her steadiness and her judgment matter more than her typing speed, and Spade trusts her with tasks he'd trust no one else.

Miles Archer

supporting

Also known as Archer, Miles

Spade's partner in the detective firm, a man whose stakeout ends in gunfire and turns a missing-person case into a murder investigation.

Iva Archer

minor

Also known as Iva

Miles Archer's widow and Spade's former lover.

Tom Polhaus

supporting

Also known as Polhaus, big Tom, Sergeant Polhaus

A big, friendly police sergeant who works the Archer murder case and treats Spade with an ease his lieutenant clearly doesn't share.

Lieutenant Dundy

supporting

Also known as Dundy

A hard-eyed police lieutenant who reads Spade as a suspect first and a colleague never, turning every interview into a contest of nerve.

Floyd Thursby

minor

Also known as Thursby, Floyd

Brigid's former partner, found murdered after Archer's death.

Sid Wise

minor

Also known as Sid, Wise

Spade's friend and attorney who provides legal advice.

District Attorney Bryan

minor

Also known as Bryan

District attorney who questions Spade about the murders.

Luke

minor

Night watchman at Spade's building who reports a disturbance.

Dixie Monahan

minor

Also known as Monahan, Dixie

Gambler who originally owned the Maltese Falcon, mentioned as deceased.

Captain Jacobi

minor

Also known as Jacobi

Captain of the La Paloma who delivers the falcon to Spade before dying.

Charilaos Konstantinides

minor

Also known as Charilaos

Greek dealer who sold the falcon to Gutman.

Flitcraft

minor

Also known as Mrs. Flitcraft

Subject of a parable Spade tells about a man who disappears after a near-death experience.

Corinne

minor

A woman mentioned in passing, possibly a former client of Spade's.

Phil Archer

minor

Also known as Phil

Miles Archer's brother, who briefly confronts Spade.

Shilling

minor

A minor character who appears at the Belvedere Divan.

Mr. Freed

minor

Also known as Freed

A man who calls Spade about a case, mentioned briefly.

Ted

minor

A young man who works at the Belvedere Divan.

Harriman

minor

A man who Spade mentions in a story about a missing person.

Papa

minor

Gutman's affectionate term for Wilmer, not a separate character.