The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett entered the public domain on January 1st of this year. This means that other authors are free to take the character of Sam Spade and the story of the falcon and run with it.

I have done exactly that, attempting to answer the question, “What happened to the black bird?” in a short story titled “Mockingbird” that has been published by Eclectica Magazine, an online literary journal. The story is free for anyone to read, but if you want to brush up on the characters and plot of the Falcon before you do so, check out the Falcon Dramatis Personae on my website.