Recently Purchased: Two Classic Mysteries

I went on a long- weekend vacation last weekend to the beach and of course I manged to sniff out a bookstore. This bookstore had a huge bargain section downstairs with tons of U.K. editions, and other editions that are hard to find in the states. I manged to limit myself to two classic mystery novels.

                                 

I haven't read anything by Raymond Chandler yet, but I own the novel (and have seen the movie version) of The Big Sleep. I am confident I will enjoy Chandler's novels as I love the drama of Noir Crime films, so I'm sure I will enjoy the source material. I don't know anything about this one, I just picked it up on a whim, but I can't wait to get into it. 

I have seen the movie version of The Maltese Falcon and loved it of course, so I'm eager to read the novel. Even though I have already seen the ending, presuming that the film ending doesn't differ from the novel, I don't remember a lot of the details, so I still think I will enjoy the book. 

Let me know your thoughts on Crime Noir and classic mysteries! I'd love to hear them.