Once more the clew crew at Jeopardy! dips into the deep trough of the life and career of Dashiell Hammett to summon up hard-boiled ghosts of the past.
Seas42 Ep124. February 26, 2026. First round. $400 clew.
Category: First Lines of Literature.
Samuel Spade’s jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth.
One contestant jumps on it. Buzzes in. Says — you can hear confidence in his voice — “What is The Big Sleep?”
Once again, the typical problem. The inherent confusion between the two masters to emerge from Black Mask magazine. Hammett. And Raymond Chandler. Even among people who make the cut for Jeopardy! it occurs in half the possible cases. One or the other.
Nanoseconds drip past as the poor guy waits for the verdict from host Ken Jennings, so he can jump to the next square. The suspense is almost Hitchcockian.
“No,” Ken says.
Next contestant buzzes in. “What is The Maltese Falcon?”
Ken: “That is the book.”
