Gregory, Sinda, Private Investigations: The Novels of Dashiell Hammett, Southern Illinois University Press, 1985.

Coming from outside of the small, specific world of detective fiction, Gregory examines Hammett's novels with the same critical eye that one might apply to the works of Dostoyevsky or John Updike.

Layman, Richard, Dashiell Hammett: A Descriptive Bibliography, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1979.

This book gives a comprehensive, painstakingly assembled survey of Hammett's many novels and stories, with the detailed publication history of each.

Marling, William, "Dashiell Hammett, Copywriter," in The American Roman Noir: Hammett, Cain, and Chandler, University of Georgia Press, 1995, pp. 93—147.

Marling's analysis of Hammett, and of The Maltese Falcon in particular, fits into a larger context of detective fiction in books and films.

Wolfe, Peter, Beams Falling: The Art of Dashiell Hammett, Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1980.

Wolfe approaches the author's life as a mystery, piecing together clues...