The Maltese Falcon is a Dashiell Hammett detective story made into a movie with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. The fuss is all about a black bird supposedly encrusted with jewels under a lead coating, sought after by international criminals.
In the movie version, Sam Spade's partner Archer gets himself shot - and the district attorney suspects Spade of the crime. Archer gets himself mixed up with the criminals while trying to find his partner's killer: "If you let them get away with it, it's bad for business all around."