The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
"His thin, claw-like hands were folded loosely on the rug, purple-nailed. A few locks of dry white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock." Published in 1939, when Raymond Chandler was 50, this is the first of the Philip Marlowe novels. Its bursts of sex, violence, and explosively direct prose changed detective fiction forever. "She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full."
When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.
"Chandler [writes] like a slumming angel and invest[s] the sun-blinded streets of Los Angelos with a romantic presence."
--Ross Macdonald
When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.
"Chandler [writes] like a slumming angel and invest[s] the sun-blinded streets of Los Angelos with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't."
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
The Long Goodbye
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. and now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
Marlowe befriends a down-on-his-luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. Now Lennox is on the lam and the cops -- and a crazy gangster -- are after Marlowe.
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't. "
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
Farewell, My Lovely
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.
Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.
"Chandler [writes] like a slumming angel and invest[s] the sun-blinded streets of Los Angelos with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't."
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
The Lady in the Lake
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
A couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—become the objects of Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.
The High Window
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune—the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.
"Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude."-- Erle Stanley Gardner
"Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement." -- The New York Times
A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune -- the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.
"Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing... and that is no mean achievement."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't. "
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
Trouble Is My Business
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
In the four long stories in this collection, Marlowe is hired to protect a rich old guy from a gold digger, runs afoul of crooked politicos, gets a line on some stolen jewels with a reward attached, and stumbles across a murder victim who may have been an extortionist.
In the four long stories in this collection, Marlowe is hired to protect a rich old guy from a gold digger, runs afoul of crooked politicos, gets a line on some stolen jewels with a reward attached, and stumbles across a murder victim who may have been an extortionist.
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't. "
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
by Raymond Chandler
from Library of America
If you're looking for the perfect gift for yourself or some other lover of mysteries, this beautifully-made volume from the Library of America series will definitely prove that you care enough to send the very best. And if you haven't picked up The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, or The High Window recently, you'll be amazed at how well they stand up to the test of time. (A second handsome volume, Later Novels & Other Writings -- including The Long Goodbye -- is also available.)
The Simple Art of Murder
by Raymond Chandler
from Vintage
Prefaced by the famous Atlantic Monthly essay of the same name, in which he argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detective novel, this collection mostly drawn from stories he wrote for the pulps demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facility with the form.
Prefaced by the famous Atlantic Monthly essay of the same name, in which he argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detective novel, this collection -- mostly drawn from stories he wrote for the pulps -- demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facility with the form.
"Raymond Chandler is a master."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered."
THE NEW YORKER
"Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious."
ROBERT B. PARKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.... An original.... A great artist."
THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
"Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century.... Age does not wither Chandler's prose.... He wrote like an angel."
LITERARY REVIEW
"[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision."
JOYCE CAROL OATES, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."
ROSS MACDONALD
"Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since."
PAUL AUSTER
"[Chandler]'s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that's like ours, but isn't. "
CAROLYN SEE
"A serious rereading of the Marlowe novels and stories yields more surprises than a rereading of Hemingway."
RICHARD RUSSO, AUTHOR OF EMPIRE FALLS
Raymond Chandler: Later Novels and Other Writings: The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Long Goodbye / Playback /Double Indemnity / Selected Essays and Letters (Library of America)
by Raymond Chandler
from Library of America
Raymond Chandler is arguably the best American pulp novelist. His prose is so acutely visual, his characters so raw and intense that it is small wonder that all but one of his books have been made into movies. And his hero Philip Marlowe has graduated into American legend. Together with its companion volume (Stories and Early Novels), Later Novels and Other Writings forms the most complete Chandler collection in print. In addition to his later novels, this collection contains selected essays and letters, biographical information, and textual as well as explanatory notes. As an added bonus, the editor has included Chandler's screenplay to Double Indemnity, the classic Billy Wilder film adapted from James M. Cain's novel. You're able to compare the script to the finished movie and have the rare opportunity to see how one major crime novelist altered and interpreted another.
The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window (Everyman's Library)
by Raymond Chandler
from Everyman's Library
(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)
Raymond Chandler’s first three novels, published here in one volume, established his reputation as an unsurpassed master of hard-boiled detective fiction.
The Big Sleep, Chandler’s first novel, introduces Philip Marlowe, a private detective inhabiting the seamy side of Los Angeles in the 1930s, as he takes on a case involving a paralyzed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail, and murder. In Farewell, My Lovely, Marlowe deals with the gambling circuit, a murder he stumbles upon, and three very beautiful but potentially deadly women. In The High Window, Marlowe searches the California underworld for a priceless gold coin and finds himself deep in the tangled affairs of a dead coin collector.
In all three novels, Chandler’s hard-edged prose, colorful characters, vivid vernacular, and, above all, his enigmatic loner of a hero, enduringly establish his claim not only to the heights of his chosen genre but to the pantheon of literary art.
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