Iva Archer

Before the novel began, while Miles Archer was still alive, Sam Spade was having an affair with his wife, Iva. After Miles's death, Spade goes to lengths to avoid her. Iva asks Spade if he killed Miles so that he could marry her, an idea that Spade finds humorous. When she sees him with Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Iva becomes jealous and sends the police to his apartment. Spade convinces her that she could be in trouble for giving the police false information, and he sends her to talk to his lawyer for advice, giving him the chance to find out, through the lawyer, what Iva was doing around the time of Miles's death.

Miles Archer

A partner in the Spade and Archer detective agency, Miles, leering wolfishly at Brigid O'Shaughnessy, offers to handle her case personally and is lured to his death because of his lechery. He dies...