Okay, so I guess I'm just not vibing with classic noir. I gave Hammett a shot, and now Chandler, and I'm still not feeling it. This one, "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler, was marginally better than the other one I read, but I can't honestly say I enjoyed it. What's the problem? I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it's the old-fashioned writing style, the casual sexism, the plot that failed to grab me, or the kind of flat, uninspired characters. I recognize the historical significance of these novels...

Sometimes, when our dogs get really, really excited, they wag their tails so hard they fall on their butts, then slide a little bit on our hardwood floors.That's what happened to me with Raymond Chandler's *The Big Sleep* this week. It made me wag my tail so hard, I fell on my butt. I'm writing this review from the hardwood floor.Here's the thing: this book isn't for everyone. It's American “detective fiction” from the 1930s. You know... pulp fiction, “noir fiction,” edgy, pulpy, stylized novels...

How many hardboiled detective novels have been written since 1939, the year Raymond Chandler introduced his perceptive, quick-witted LA tough guy, private eye Philip Marlowe? Round it to the nearest 10,000. That's how many imitations there are.That's hardboiled as in a world of crooked cops, organized crime, double-crossing grifters, and every other door in a downtown office reeking of swindle, sex angles, or shady business deals. In such a world, it's every citizen for themselves, and an honest...

"The game I play is not spillikins. There’s always a large element of bluff connected with it…When you hire a boy in my line of work it isn’t like hiring a window-washer and showing him eight windows and saying: ‘Wash those and you’re through.’ You don’t know what I have to go through or over or under to do your job for you. I do it my way. I do my best to protect you and I may break a few rules, but I break them in your favor. The client comes first, unless he’s crooked. Even then all I do is h...

Raymond Chandler's *The Big Sleep* first hit shelves in 1939, introducing the iconic Philip Marlowe to the world. A modern, noir detective story, *The Big Sleep* redefined the genre, swapping passive deduction for action-packed thrills between the private eye and the underworld. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, then a sleepy town as much under mob control as police jurisdiction, *The Big Sleep* is a relentless thriller. If you love classic detective novels, this is a must-read.General Sternwood hires p...

A killing read! PAINT IT BLACK A nice state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy. That was the line that hooked me when I watched the classic film adaptation, the one produced in 1946, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.While I loved the whole movie, that scene between Marlowe (Bogart) and the character of General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) at the glasshouse (in the beginning of the story) was what hooked me. It’s a wonderful dialogue, full of vices, smoking ...

Since I've been reading a lot of detective-type urban fantasy lately, I decided to pick up one of the original texts of the genre, just to see what it was like. Raymond Chandler wrote *The Big Sleep* back in 1939, and the book itself holds up remarkably well even though it's been 70 years. It's very readable. Some of the slang is a little opaque, sure, but not nearly as much as you'd think. And some of the intuitive leaps Philip Marlowe takes are a little difficult to grasp. But I'm not sure if ...

Okay, so it wasn't awful. Plenty of fistfights, shootings, and dames, and our detective hero is suitably jaded and tight-lipped. The bad guys are nuts, the women are freaks both in and out of bed, and there's a subplot about a pornography ring. Everyone talks in 30s slang, and you're often left wondering what the hell anyone's yelling about. It's a violent, fast-paced, garter-snapping (the Depression equivalent of bodice-ripping, I guess) detective thriller, and you could do a lot worse. Raymond...

She was the first thing I saw when I walked into the bookstore. Such a looker I damn near tripped over a stack of calf-high hardbacks next to the morning papers. "I'm sorry," she said. "We're not quite open yet." "That's okay," I told her. "Neither are my eyes." I could tell right away I wasn't going to win any points by being a smart-aleck. "I need a book," I continued by way of apology. "Something fun but dark. I'm looking at five hundred miles today, but I'm not in the mood for an epic. Noir...

It's always a pleasure to revisit a great book and find it even better than you remember. But it’s humbling to discover that what you once thought was its most obvious defect is, instead, one of its great strengths. That was my recent experience with Raymond Chandler's *The Big Sleep*. I had read it twice before—once twenty, once forty years ago—and have admired it ever since for its striking metaphors, vivid scenes, and tough dialogue. Above all, I love it for its hero, Philip Marlowe, the clo...