Sam Spade to Sherlock Holmes

Dashiell Hammett has been called "the dean of the 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction”. His novel The Maltese Falcon debuts Sam Spade, America’s first fictional private eye. Spade has a sharp eye for detail, like Sherlock Holmes, a nose for the truth, a commitment to justice, and one almost fatal flaw.

Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is the best known of literature’s great detectives. His associate, Dr. Watson describes him as having “a cold, precise, but admirably balanced mind”. 

Imagine the two detectives conferring about a case.