Brian Wallace keeps sending me the news that when the copyright expires early in 2025, Max Allan Collins has a deal with Hard Case Crime to pick up Sam Spade in (dum-dum):
The Return of The Maltese Falcon
Of course, at that point anyone can sit down and do a knockoff — some fast guy could pound something out in a week or two.
Do a paperback original series Spade Work: The Chronicles — with a new release every few days. Get a ghost writing staff pulled together.
Nothing says any of the pseudo Spades will be any good, but Collins fronted by Hard Case no doubt has a better chance of getting people to look at his sequel. Unless James Patterson enters the fray.
I’m not the audience for it. I thought the authorized Joe Gores prequel Spade and Archer was pretty bad (essentially, he was rewriting his much earlier novel Hammett, using and reusing the plot elements from Hammett’s Continental Op stories he liked best — laying out made-up background that was never needed).
But just think. In January 2025 we might get jumped by the likes of:
The Maltese Falcon Returns
The Maltese Falcon 2
The Maltese Falcon Redux
The Rerun of The Maltese Falcon
If you’re going to do it, I guess I’d prefer a more modern take on the idea:
Holy Shit! Look What I Found at the Thrift Store!
