Night of Noir at Manhattan Beach Public Library

Manhattan Beach residents Kyle Marshall, left, and William Cui pose with Julie Rivett, the granddaughter of author Dashiell Hammett, at the Manhattan Beach Public Library last Wednesday. Rivett was in attendance to lead a discussion of Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon,” a detective-fiction classic that follows San Francisco detective Sam Spade in his search for a priceless statuette.

“The Maltese Falcon” was the latest selection of the Big Read event, a county-wide program that selects books for people to read and discuss at library events. Last Wednesday’s event served as the kickoff of the series, and dozens of people to talk noir and listen to swing music from the Hollywood Rhythm Kings.

The Big Read is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Shakespeare at Play, a nonprofit that stages classical theater at schools and venues across the world. They capped Wednesday’s evening with a falcon-themed murder mystery that got residents in on the act.

“We have a lot of great people here. Unfortunately one of them is a cold-blooded killer,” deadpanned the detective.

The Manhattan branch will host several other Big Read events, including a book club discussion of “The Maltese Falcon” Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m., and a screening of the classic film version, starring Humphrey Bogart, on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.