Is Monsieur Spade Based On A Book?

Monsieur Spade bears interesting connections to a literary work from the 1930s, as well as an iconic Hollywood movie. Starring Clive Owen as the titular character, Monsieur Spade is a new mystery series from AMC. The show follows the exploits of Sam Spade, a once-successful private detective.

Choosing 1963 France as its primary setting, Monsieur Spade season 1 tells a six-episode story that sees its main protagonist dive head-first into a murder case. In the timeframe of the story, Clive Owen’s Sam Spade is years past his prime. Having left the life of a private detective behind him years ago, Sam is enjoying the lack of excitement in his everyday activities when he’s suddenly forced back into action. As for where it all leads, that remains to be seen. However, that’s not to say Monsiuer Spade is an entirely original story. It is, in fact, rooted in existing material.

Sam Spade Is The Protagonist Of The 1930 Novel The Maltese Falcon

While the story being told in Monsieur Spade isn’t based on a book, its protagonist does indeed hail from a classic novel. Sam Spade made his first appearance in The Maltese Falcon, a 1930 novel by Dashiel Hammett before headlining a string of short stories from the writer. During this era, stories about “hard-boiled detectives” had become incredibly popular, with writers like Hammett, Mickey Spillane, and Raymond Chandler all penning some of the most well-known entries into the mystery subgenre. Many of which, including The Maltese Falcon, wound up getting the Hollywood treatment.

In 1941, John Huston wrote and directed a big-screen adaptation of The Maltese Falcon and cast Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart in the lead role of Sam Spade. The story, like the book it’s based on, saw Spade get wrapped up in a search by multiple parties to find a seemingly priceless bird statue called the Maltese Falcon. Bogart’s performance in the movie, and the handling of the Dashiel Hammett story, helped turn Sam Spade into one of the celebrated actor’s best-known roles.

The Events Of Monsieur Spade Are Set Well After The Events Of The Book

In the canon of Monsieur Spade, the events of The Maltese Falcon are in the past. From the looks of things, it acts as a sequel series to the original 1930 novel. Everything that occurs in the book apparently did happen in the show, but it was decades ago by this point. That makes sense, considering the 1963 setting of Monsieur Spade. Hammett’s Sam Spade stories never ventured that far into Sam Spade’s life, meaning that while the show may explore The Maltese Falcon story via flashbacks, it’s overarching narrative should be an entirely new story, making what happens impossible to predict from looking at Hammett’s work alone.