I hadn’t understood this, but The Maltese Falcon is in fact a Red Herring.
My reading of the plot, although Wikipedia doesn’t support this, is that Sam Spade killed his business partner Miles Archer (whose wife he was shagging) and frames Brigit O’Shaughnessy for the murder. At the end, the wife returns expecting possibly marriage and happiness with Spade, although he appears less enthusiastic. But this may be wrong.
If I am right, the mysterious and never seen Falcon loses most of its interest and is at best merely a frame around which the plot is hung.
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