Dashiell Hammett was one of the two greatest writers of hardboiled detective fiction (Raymond Chandler being the other), and his best (in my opinion) novel, THE MALTESE FALCON, featured the iconic private eye Sam Spade. Hammett wrote a few other stories about Spade, and they are gathered here in this collection of short stories, along with two or three tales not involving Spade. Interestingly, the Spade stories are the least involving of the group, and even though they are each much shorter than THE MALTESE FALCON, I found it hard to remember much about them even as I finished reading each one. They slip away like mist. But the final story in the collection, a tale about boxing called "My Brother's Keeper," is a classic, one of the best short stories I've read in a long time. It has the same regretful feel of Sherwood Anderson's "I'm a Fool," though the milieu and atmosphere are far different. I found the collection of stories in A MAN CALLED SPADE a letdown, not because the stories aren't well-written, but because they don't reflect the full brilliance of Dashiell Hammett--except in "My Brother's Keeper." In that story, he proves himself a master all over again. ( )