What do you think?
Rate this book
Smart-Aleck Kill
'When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand', wrote Raymond Chandler once. In these four stores of the wild modern west, doors open, guns speak, blood spurts, knees buckle. When the doors won't open, the hood push the muzzle of a chopper through the peep panel and rake the room from end to end. And men take a little time to die.
4 short stories.
4 short stories.
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
6 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Chandler
448 books5,623 followersRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 19, 2024
Four short stories from Raymond Chandler that pre-date his Philip Marlowe series of novels.
There is some prototyping for Marlowe going, and there are some interesting twists and turns in these.
The back of this slim paperback says:
John Dalmas, a private dick is babysitting a film director (of dubious morals) when he kills himself - but of course it is a murder, and Dalmas must unravel the situation to sort the 'smart aleck kill'. 4/5 stars
Pick-up on Noon Street
Pete Anglich, an undercover cop, is drawn into a sting while saving a girl who is on the way down and is embroiled in a complex web with gangsters, crooks and blackmailers. 4/5 stars
Nevada Gas
The scene is set when Hugo Candles, a big man about town is murdered with a car set up to pump gas into the back (over elaborate and complex I would have thought). Johnny De Ruse is gambler who is about to skip town on his girlfriend when he gets well tangled up in the plot, and has to find his way out. 3/5 stars, but the car thing is too unrealistic, especially when they needed the car to replicate Candles's car perfectly...
Spanish Blood
Sam Delaguerra is a straight cop, and is one of the first on the scene when childhood friend and politician Donegan Marr is murdered. It looks like there is a suspect, but when Marr is set up in a poaching sting to get him off the case, Delaguerra needs to dig deeper, and sort out the complex web to get to who is to blame. 4/5 stars
Overall, 4 stars
There is some prototyping for Marlowe going, and there are some interesting twists and turns in these.
The back of this slim paperback says:
'When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand', wrote Raymond Chandler once. In these four stores of the wild modern west, doors open, guns speak, blood spurts, knees buckle. When the doors won't open, the hood push the muzzle of a chopper through the peep panel and rake the room from end to end. And men take a little time to die.Smart Alec kill
John Dalmas, a private dick is babysitting a film director (of dubious morals) when he kills himself - but of course it is a murder, and Dalmas must unravel the situation to sort the 'smart aleck kill'. 4/5 stars
Pick-up on Noon Street
Pete Anglich, an undercover cop, is drawn into a sting while saving a girl who is on the way down and is embroiled in a complex web with gangsters, crooks and blackmailers. 4/5 stars
Nevada Gas
The scene is set when Hugo Candles, a big man about town is murdered with a car set up to pump gas into the back (over elaborate and complex I would have thought). Johnny De Ruse is gambler who is about to skip town on his girlfriend when he gets well tangled up in the plot, and has to find his way out. 3/5 stars, but the car thing is too unrealistic, especially when they needed the car to replicate Candles's car perfectly...
Spanish Blood
Sam Delaguerra is a straight cop, and is one of the first on the scene when childhood friend and politician Donegan Marr is murdered. It looks like there is a suspect, but when Marr is set up in a poaching sting to get him off the case, Delaguerra needs to dig deeper, and sort out the complex web to get to who is to blame. 4/5 stars
Overall, 4 stars
March 27, 2025
Somehow too short to illustrate Chandler's touch of genius, the story foreshadows the type of Marlowe detective and his adjacent world: guns, booze, smoking, danger all over the place.
A good one, but not necessarily one to remember, so the score depends on your temporary mood...
A good one, but not necessarily one to remember, so the score depends on your temporary mood...
November 21, 2020
Quatro histórias que mostram o início da carreira de Chandler.
Embora menos trabalhadas do que os seus romances maiores (e posteriores), todo o ambiente que viria a servir de cenário às investigações do detective Philip Marlowe já lá está: Los Angeles dos anos 30, noite, bares, submundo, chantagem, crime, e um intrincado que Chandler viria a aprimorar até se estrear em grande com 'À Beira do Abismo'.
Uma boa introdução embora não seja ainda o Chandler da escrita sarcástica e trabalhada das histórias de Marlowe.
Embora menos trabalhadas do que os seus romances maiores (e posteriores), todo o ambiente que viria a servir de cenário às investigações do detective Philip Marlowe já lá está: Los Angeles dos anos 30, noite, bares, submundo, chantagem, crime, e um intrincado que Chandler viria a aprimorar até se estrear em grande com 'À Beira do Abismo'.
Uma boa introdução embora não seja ainda o Chandler da escrita sarcástica e trabalhada das histórias de Marlowe.
March 27, 2020
Four early short stories from the king of literary crime fiction, all written a fair few years before the Marlowe novels.
The writing has all the toughness of that superlative series, but not so much of the elegance. Each of the tales is as taut as a drum, brilliantly plotted and as cold and sharp as the stars above another cloudless Los Angeles night.
In the title story John Dalmas - an early draft for Philip Marlowe - finds himself in a compromising situation when a Hollywood smut director he has been baby-sitting shoots himself in his hotel room. Only it's not a suicide, it's a murder, a smart-aleck kill.
In 'Pick-Up on Noon Street', undercover narcotics cop Pete Anglich steps into a sting involving a struggling Hollywood actor and a ruthless gangster in order to save an innocent damsel in distress. Should he expect some gratitude?
'Nevada Gas' is probably the best story, certainly the most imaginatively plotted. A gambler called De Ruse is a wanted man, but can he trust his dame? Sample line: "After a moment the pain went out of De Ruse's eyes and the metallic smile came back to the corners of his lips."
Almost as good is the final story, 'Spanish Blood', in which the murder of his boyhood friend gets a straight cop involved in a dirty political fix. The friends both loved the same woman, she married the murdered man, now she's a widow.
These stories shouldn't be confined to Chandler completists.
The writing has all the toughness of that superlative series, but not so much of the elegance. Each of the tales is as taut as a drum, brilliantly plotted and as cold and sharp as the stars above another cloudless Los Angeles night.
In the title story John Dalmas - an early draft for Philip Marlowe - finds himself in a compromising situation when a Hollywood smut director he has been baby-sitting shoots himself in his hotel room. Only it's not a suicide, it's a murder, a smart-aleck kill.
In 'Pick-Up on Noon Street', undercover narcotics cop Pete Anglich steps into a sting involving a struggling Hollywood actor and a ruthless gangster in order to save an innocent damsel in distress. Should he expect some gratitude?
'Nevada Gas' is probably the best story, certainly the most imaginatively plotted. A gambler called De Ruse is a wanted man, but can he trust his dame? Sample line: "After a moment the pain went out of De Ruse's eyes and the metallic smile came back to the corners of his lips."
Almost as good is the final story, 'Spanish Blood', in which the murder of his boyhood friend gets a straight cop involved in a dirty political fix. The friends both loved the same woman, she married the murdered man, now she's a widow.
These stories shouldn't be confined to Chandler completists.
March 3, 2022
Read as part of the collection The Simple Art of Murder.
July 24, 2016
I read this while I was waiting for The Simple Art of Murder to arrive in the post, as it consists of half of that book.
It's a collection of four short stories about characters who aren't Philip Marlowe. I liked them all about equally, though 'Nevada Gas' seemed a little far-fetched. Really, where did they get their hands on that gas? How hard would it be to modify a car like that? There must be cheaper and easier ways to kill people.
The characters, generally stock types, weren't terribly memorable. The heroes are almost interchangeable - as I understand it, the names of the heroes in some early Chandler stories were changed to Marlowe when they were reprinted. But not these. Possibly Chandler didn't like these stories enough to want to bring them into the Marlowe canon.
The racial stereotyping, especially in 'Pick-up on Noon Street', may offend some readers. I found that story kind of interesting for its glimpses into the world of LA's 'Negro quarter', which you never see in the 1930s movies these stories resemble, and I suspect is also pretty seldom seen in written fiction of the time. But I thought his portrayal of the characters living in that world did not live up to the ideals of truthfulness Chandler aspired to. I guess I'd see a lot more of this kind of thing if I read more early 20th century American fiction, and might not make such a big deal of it here.
The stories were fairly entertaining pulp adventures which I won't remember much a few days from now. There were some good lines. I was surprised at how much variety Chandler could wring out of such limited genre material: dicks, dames, villains and guns. (In case you're wondering, a 'dick' is a detective.)
It was fun to see Chandler's famous writing advice so hard at work: 'When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand'.
It's a collection of four short stories about characters who aren't Philip Marlowe. I liked them all about equally, though 'Nevada Gas' seemed a little far-fetched. Really, where did they get their hands on that gas? How hard would it be to modify a car like that? There must be cheaper and easier ways to kill people.
The characters, generally stock types, weren't terribly memorable. The heroes are almost interchangeable - as I understand it, the names of the heroes in some early Chandler stories were changed to Marlowe when they were reprinted. But not these. Possibly Chandler didn't like these stories enough to want to bring them into the Marlowe canon.
The racial stereotyping, especially in 'Pick-up on Noon Street', may offend some readers. I found that story kind of interesting for its glimpses into the world of LA's 'Negro quarter', which you never see in the 1930s movies these stories resemble, and I suspect is also pretty seldom seen in written fiction of the time. But I thought his portrayal of the characters living in that world did not live up to the ideals of truthfulness Chandler aspired to. I guess I'd see a lot more of this kind of thing if I read more early 20th century American fiction, and might not make such a big deal of it here.
The stories were fairly entertaining pulp adventures which I won't remember much a few days from now. There were some good lines. I was surprised at how much variety Chandler could wring out of such limited genre material: dicks, dames, villains and guns. (In case you're wondering, a 'dick' is a detective.)
It was fun to see Chandler's famous writing advice so hard at work: 'When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand'.
February 25, 2023
I picked this up to read as research for my own detective, Quinton Kirby, aka Quirk, co-star of my first novel The Mandroid Murders as I edited its sequel The Carborundum Conundrum (due out in the Summer from Space Wizard Science Fantasy). I had no intention of changing my character that much. Quirk is rather too (outwardly) effete in comparison to the hard-nosed gumshoes in this collection of four Chandler novellas. Really, I was reading this book to confirm that the feel of my Quirk & Moth stories (of which there are two, about to be three), was right. I am pleased to say that I think it is, although my stories are much more of the here and now in terms of social mores.
But aside from that I found some highly enjoyable tales, very much loaded with cigar-chewing machismo, as one would expect from Chandler and, arguably, most books of this vintage. Chandler paints the noir on thick, of course, because that was the whole idea, and he did have a strong hand in inventing it. For the most part the dames are sharp as the olive in our hero's martini, or bitter as the beer he slugs down between whiskies and cigarettes. In the context of the re-writing of Roald Dahl's works (topical at the time I write this review), I suspect little of Chandler's prose would remain, although these stories are very much not for children, of course.
If anything, a book like this highlights why it is so important to retain literature in the form that it was created, with the author's intentions intact. How else can we learn from the past, and balance the values of one time period against another? Surely contrast is critical, and homogenisation is the enemy of creativity. And while on the subject of contemporary comparison, there is absolutely no way that an AI could have created some of the language, characters and plot points in these stories!
Of the four novellas - Smart-aleck Kill, Pick Up on Noon Street, Nevada Gas, and Spanish Blood - I think the last is my favourite, evocative of the labyrinthine plot of LA Confidential or Chinatown, with its twisted personal relationships at the heart of the action, but that could be said of all the stories here. I will be seeking out more Chandler, all in the interests of research, of course.
But aside from that I found some highly enjoyable tales, very much loaded with cigar-chewing machismo, as one would expect from Chandler and, arguably, most books of this vintage. Chandler paints the noir on thick, of course, because that was the whole idea, and he did have a strong hand in inventing it. For the most part the dames are sharp as the olive in our hero's martini, or bitter as the beer he slugs down between whiskies and cigarettes. In the context of the re-writing of Roald Dahl's works (topical at the time I write this review), I suspect little of Chandler's prose would remain, although these stories are very much not for children, of course.
If anything, a book like this highlights why it is so important to retain literature in the form that it was created, with the author's intentions intact. How else can we learn from the past, and balance the values of one time period against another? Surely contrast is critical, and homogenisation is the enemy of creativity. And while on the subject of contemporary comparison, there is absolutely no way that an AI could have created some of the language, characters and plot points in these stories!
Of the four novellas - Smart-aleck Kill, Pick Up on Noon Street, Nevada Gas, and Spanish Blood - I think the last is my favourite, evocative of the labyrinthine plot of LA Confidential or Chinatown, with its twisted personal relationships at the heart of the action, but that could be said of all the stories here. I will be seeking out more Chandler, all in the interests of research, of course.
April 26, 2024
Μετά από σχεδόν έξι χρόνια ξαναδιαβάζω επιτέλους βιβλίο του Ρέιμοντ Τσάντλερ. Αλλά εδώ που τα λέμε, ακόμα και αυτό που διάβασα τότε ("Πουντλ Σπρινγκς") δεν ήταν όλο δικό του, το είχε ξεκινήσει ο άνθρωπος αλλά τον πρόλαβε ο Χάρος, και μετά από χρόνια το συνέχισε και το ολοκλήρωσε ο Ρόμπερτ Μπ. Πάρκερ. Λοιπόν, εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια εξαίσια συλλογή τεσσάρων ιστοριών του μεγάλου αυτού συγγραφέα, οι οποίες γράφτηκαν πριν τα γνωστά του μυθιστορήματα, δείχνοντας από νωρίς την ποιότητα και το στιλ του, που τόσο πολύ απολαμβάνω. Χωρίς φιοριτούρες, πολυλογίες, άσχετες και κουραστικές λεπτομέρειες, ο Τσάντλερ λέει τις ιστορίες του, οι οποίες διαθέτουν τέλεια νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα, δράση, βία σε λογικές ποσότητες, μυστήριο, λίγες εκπλήξεις και όλα αυτά τα καλούδια. Σκληρό στιλ γραφής, ευθύ, χωρίς μα και μου, μιλάμε για τον ορισμό του hardboiled (εξάλλου ο Τσάντλερ ήταν/είναι από τους θεμελιωτές του συγκεκριμένου είδους). Η συλλογή αυτή των εκδόσεων Ερατώ (με το μικρό μέγεθος και το σκληρό εξώφυλλο) περιέχει τις εξής ιστορίες: "Ερασιτέχνης δολοφόνος", "Νεβάδα Γκας", "Ψώνισμα στη Νουν Στρητ" και "Σπανιόλικο αίμα". Και ειλικρινά δεν μπορώ να ξεχωρίσω καμία εξ αυτών: Όλες μου φάνηκαν το ίδιο σκληρές, καλογραμμένες και ατμοσφαιρικές. Δεν βάζω πέντε αστεράκια, γιατί θα ήμουν κομμάτι υπερβολικός, αλλά σαν ψυχαγωγία αξίζει σίγουρα πέντε αστεράκια!
March 4, 2020
These were the first Chandler stories I had read. I’m still to read the novels that he is famous for.
Smart-Aleck Kill is a collection of Chandler’s earliest published stories and the reader can easily see Chandler’s talent for words, flow and story telling.
Pretty good, worth a read, but not great.
3.5
Smart-Aleck Kill is a collection of Chandler’s earliest published stories and the reader can easily see Chandler’s talent for words, flow and story telling.
Pretty good, worth a read, but not great.
3.5
June 19, 2022
Must admit I prefer Chandler's novels to his short stories, but these are pretty good on the whole with the best of them being "Nevada Gas". It has the tightest of plots, and the showdown near the end is absolutely perfect with some excellent writing. The book is worth it for that story alone. The others are fine, but don't crack fire in the same way. Enjoyed it.
August 23, 2020
Four short stories. Too much character and setting description for me - for short stories. But the 'essence of Raymond Chandler' shone through (especially in the last story). Even his weaker 'stuff' is good.
January 15, 2019
If you don't love Chandler, somethings wrong with you.
Want to read
July 23, 2025Synopsis: a collection of four short stories: 'Smart Alec Kill', 'Pick-up on Noon Street', 'Nevada Gas', and 'Spanish Blood.'
August 22, 2025
He sure has an interesting way of writing nonwhite characters!
February 21, 2022
The version I read also included Pick-Up on Noon Street, Nevada Gas, and Spanish Blood. I’d give the first two stories two stars and the last one three stars. Especially Smart-Aleck Kill and Pick-Up on Noon Street reeked of alcoholism, violence and hopelessness. But Nevada Gas redeemed the collection with, no less, tenderness. One example, from the protagonist: “I’m sorry, baby,’ De Ruse said softly beside her. ‘I guess I had a wrong idea about you.’
November 21, 2025
Ο ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ Ντάλμας προσλαμβάνεται από ένα κινηματογραφικό στούντιο για να χειριστεί μια υπόθεση εκβιασμού που αφορά τον σκηνοθέτη Γουόλντεν . Ο Γουόλντεν, ένας αλαζονικός και δυσάρεστος άνθρωπος, αρνείται να συνεργαστεί, προτιμώντας να διαπραγματευτεί μόνος του.
Στο διαμέρισμα του Γουόλντεν, δύο ένοπλοι άνδρες εισβάλλουν, απαιτώντας χρήματα. Υποχρεώνουν τον Ντάλμας, υπό την απειλή όπλου, να μπει στο αυτοκίνητό τους, σκοπεύοντας να τον κρατήσουν όμηρο μέχρι ο Γουόλντεν να εξασφαλίσει τα χρήματα. Ο Ντάλμας καταφέρνει να δραπετεύσει με τη βοήθεια του ταξιτζή του.
Αργότερα, ο Ντάλμας βρίσκει τον Γουόλντεν νεκρό από πυροβολισμό στο κεφάλι, σε μια σκηνοθετημένη αυτοκτονία. Κατά τη διάρκεια της έρευνας, ο Ντάλμας ανακαλύπτει μια περίπλοκη υπόθεση διαφθοράς και ναρκωτικών, στην οποία εμπλέκονται ένας δημοτικός σύμβουλος και ένας μαφιόζος.
Η πλοκή κορυφώνεται με τον Ντάλμας να ξεσκεπάζει τους πραγματικούς ενόχους, συμπεριλαμβανομένου ενός άλλου ντετέκτιβ του στούντιο που έπαιζε διπλό παιχνίδι....
Ο Chandler τονίζει ότι σε έναν κόσμο όπου η ηθική έχει χαθεί και η διαφθορά θριαμβεύει, το μόνο που μένει είναι η ατομική ακεραιότητα και η αφοσίωση στην αλήθεια, ακόμη και αν αυτή η μάχη είναι μοναχική και απαισιόδοξη.
Οι διάλογοι είναι αιχμηροί και γεμάτοι αργκό της εποχής.
Η πλοκή είναι πολύπλοκη και δυσνόητη, με πολλά γεγονότα να συμβαίνουν με βιαστικό ή συγκεχυμένο τρόπο.
Σύσταση:Αρκετά κοινότυπο, χωρίς εκπλήξεις .
Στο διαμέρισμα του Γουόλντεν, δύο ένοπλοι άνδρες εισβάλλουν, απαιτώντας χρήματα. Υποχρεώνουν τον Ντάλμας, υπό την απειλή όπλου, να μπει στο αυτοκίνητό τους, σκοπεύοντας να τον κρατήσουν όμηρο μέχρι ο Γουόλντεν να εξασφαλίσει τα χρήματα. Ο Ντάλμας καταφέρνει να δραπετεύσει με τη βοήθεια του ταξιτζή του.
Αργότερα, ο Ντάλμας βρίσκει τον Γουόλντεν νεκρό από πυροβολισμό στο κεφάλι, σε μια σκηνοθετημένη αυτοκτονία. Κατά τη διάρκεια της έρευνας, ο Ντάλμας ανακαλύπτει μια περίπλοκη υπόθεση διαφθοράς και ναρκωτικών, στην οποία εμπλέκονται ένας δημοτικός σύμβουλος και ένας μαφιόζος.
Η πλοκή κορυφώνεται με τον Ντάλμας να ξεσκεπάζει τους πραγματικούς ενόχους, συμπεριλαμβανομένου ενός άλλου ντετέκτιβ του στούντιο που έπαιζε διπλό παιχνίδι....
Ο Chandler τονίζει ότι σε έναν κόσμο όπου η ηθική έχει χαθεί και η διαφθορά θριαμβεύει, το μόνο που μένει είναι η ατομική ακεραιότητα και η αφοσίωση στην αλήθεια, ακόμη και αν αυτή η μάχη είναι μοναχική και απαισιόδοξη.
Οι διάλογοι είναι αιχμηροί και γεμάτοι αργκό της εποχής.
Η πλοκή είναι πολύπλοκη και δυσνόητη, με πολλά γεγονότα να συμβαίνουν με βιαστικό ή συγκεχυμένο τρόπο.
Σύσταση:Αρκετά κοινότυπο, χωρίς εκπλήξεις .
March 5, 2011
A collection of non-Philip Marlowe short stories. Some of Chandler's early work. I think these pieces originally ran in "Black Mask" magazine, but I'm not sure.
The first and last stories in this collection are great. Just great. The bodies pile up in a blood bath that would give Tarantino pause. Read "Spanish Blood" for the fight in the pool hall.
Unfortunately, the collection feels a little lopsided. "Nevada Gas" was pretty boring, to be honest and "Pick-Up on Noon Street" lacked luster.
The numbers:
SMART-ALECK KILL- 5
PICK-UP ON NOON STREET- 2
NEVADA GAS- 1
SPANISH BLOOD- 5
AVERAGE RATING= 3.25, rounded down down to 3.
The first and last stories in this collection are great. Just great. The bodies pile up in a blood bath that would give Tarantino pause. Read "Spanish Blood" for the fight in the pool hall.
Unfortunately, the collection feels a little lopsided. "Nevada Gas" was pretty boring, to be honest and "Pick-Up on Noon Street" lacked luster.
The numbers:
SMART-ALECK KILL- 5
PICK-UP ON NOON STREET- 2
NEVADA GAS- 1
SPANISH BLOOD- 5
AVERAGE RATING= 3.25, rounded down down to 3.
December 5, 2012
I enjoyed the other Chandler stories I read, but these ones just seemed flat and dull. After Hammett the characters just felt a bit ordinary and there was little sympathy for them. It seemed a very straight and matter of fact narration style. It was easy to picture what was happening, but just also a bit dull and dry. I think part of the problem was I read the stories very slowly before bed. I think they needed to be read quicker to increase the pacing. The last story was definitely the best, with a woman killer who was not exactly evil and a cop who was not exactly good. I have another set of Chandler stories to read, which I'm hoping I will like more than these.
November 8, 2008
I liked about half of the short stories a lot and then the other half I liked okay. It made my life seem dramatic for the time I was reading it. I became my own noir narrator immitating lines like "'I didn't have anything to do with it, Johnny.' Her voice was as dead as the summer before last." and was at times both the chain smoking veiled damsel and the chain smoking dick.
January 7, 2015
A collection of 4 short stories, some better than others. I liked that yet weren't all "private eye" main characters. The "Pete Anglich" one was really annoying, it is so unnatural to keep using someone's full name every time they were mentioned. These ones were even more trigger happy than the longer novels, blood baths all round!
December 21, 2024
Johnny Dalmas is in a bit of a situation when he finds out about a murder before the police do, and has to get to the bottom of it before getting into too much trouble. Whiskey, murder, women, dark nights...it's got it all in this short story.
My copy is a bilingual Czech-English one. Translated into Czech by Tomáš Korbař.
My copy is a bilingual Czech-English one. Translated into Czech by Tomáš Korbař.
August 26, 2012
Os Espertos Também Morrem
Circulo Leitores
Circulo Leitores
April 12, 2016
Tahattoman hauskasti käännetty.
March 29, 2017
Four short stories, each picturing a different cast. One of the fun things is figuring out whose side you're meant to be on.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews