Spade gay? I think that must be the theory of someone with
too much time of their hands.
However, on the issue of the implied sexuality of Gutman,
Cairo and Wilma; couldn't that be a tool of the writer? The
story was written for the pulps whose audience was mainly
men, manly men. At the time, the attitude toward homosexuals
was less than positive, to say the least. Perhaps Hammett
used people's homophobia as a way to force them to perceive
the bad guys as worse than his morally ambigous hero.
But I have to agree that the only innocent is Effie. Everyone
else in the novel has their own selfish motive.
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