Character Analysis
Miles Archer is Sam Spade's partner. He's in his thirties, well-built, and jovial. We only meet him briefly in Chapter 1 when he is introduced to Miss Wonderly. Archer tails Thursby that night, but winds up murdered the next morning.
Spade spends the remainder of the novel trying to find Archer's killer. We can't tell for sure whether Spade and Miles were close friends because, on the one hand, Spade was sleeping with Miles' wife Iva, yet on the other, Spade does succeed in discovering and capturing Miles' murderer, successfully avenging his partner's death.