The Maltese Falcon

Private detective from San Francisco Sam Spade agrees to help a young girl in her search for her sister. The case seems trivial, but by evening, Spade becomes a suspect in the murder of his partner and finds himself embroiled in a dangerous hunt for a priceless statuette that vanished centuries ago...
"The Maltese Falcon" is the most famous novel by Dashiell Hammett, written in the noir style, and the first in the series of works about private detective Sam Spade. The novel is included in the list of "The 100 Best Detective Novels" and has been called by literary critics "the greatest American detective story of all time".