An Audie For 'The Maltese Falcon'

The Audie awards, which is an award for outstanding audiobooks and spoken word entertainment, announced the winners at a gala last week and The Maltese Falcon - with among others Sandra Oh, Michael Madsen and Edward Herrmann - won in the category for outstanding audio adaptation.

Here is a review of the adaptation, which was also nominated for a Grammy at this year's awards:

They’re all here—Sam Spade, the streetwise detective; the gorgeous but dangerous dame; the squirrelly guy; and the fat man—all chasing an elusive statue of a mythical bird across the most American of literary landscapes, fog-bound San Francisco in the 1920s. Few novels have been more “noir”—or more influential.

With fine talents like Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrmann, Blackstone Audio and the Hollywood Theater of the Ear have created a taut, well-paced audio production, drawn directly from the novel, first serialized in BLACK MASK MAGAZINE in 1929. All of Hammett's signature descriptions and stylish dialogue are at the forefront. Sexy, darkly comic, and broodingly moral, THE MALTESE FALCON is like a jolt of bourbon—it wakes you up and keeps you listening.

B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]

Mystery & Suspense • 3 hrs. • Audio Program • ©1957

Click here to hear a sample of Sandra in the role as "the irresistible and treacherous femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy".