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Philip Marlowe #1-3
The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window
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.
Featuring the iconic character that inspired the forthcoming film Marlowe , starring Liam Neeson.
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.
Featuring the iconic character that inspired the forthcoming film Marlowe , starring Liam Neeson.
696 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
33 people are currently reading
932 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Chandler
448 books5,628 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."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 27, 2008
Chandler's descriptions are so compelling that you not only see the characters clearly but also have a fairly complete feel for their personalities (who they are). I felt like I was experiencing everything: walking across the stones in the grass, sizing up the cool brick house etc.
And some of the desriptives are hilarious:
"she had a lot of face and chin. she had pewter colored hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak, and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones"
Wet stones! Ruthless permanent! Who thinks like that. It was refreshing and wonderful.
The quality of the prose is consistent. I was completely engaged. His writing is brilliant. He is funny. The books evoke the era of film noir and hard boiled Hollywood detectives.
Where Dashiel Hammet was telegraphic, Raymond Chandler dwells more, using words to their best advantage. He uses words more freely but not wastefully.
And some of the desriptives are hilarious:
"she had a lot of face and chin. she had pewter colored hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak, and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones"
Wet stones! Ruthless permanent! Who thinks like that. It was refreshing and wonderful.
The quality of the prose is consistent. I was completely engaged. His writing is brilliant. He is funny. The books evoke the era of film noir and hard boiled Hollywood detectives.
Where Dashiel Hammet was telegraphic, Raymond Chandler dwells more, using words to their best advantage. He uses words more freely but not wastefully.
September 22, 2024
Good Morning friends. ☺️ I have already ordered the 2nd volume of Raymond Chandler's Novels in the Marlowe series (Everyman's ed) from the library. Yea, I'm chomping at the bit here. 😜 He's THAT good. The protagonist, Marlowe - PI, my kind of man :
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He 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."
I'm in love, madly so with Chandler's pen, the magic of 'trance' ; he never fails to engage his reader with his descriptive style:
"Shake your business up and pour it. I don't have all day."
"You're broke, eh?"
"I been shaking two nickels together for a month, trying to get them to mate."
"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window."
Marlowe's a straight shooting man and the arrow 💘 hits home :
"I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
"What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on the top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell."
Philip Marlowe makes Raymond Chandler my standout writer for 2024 .
"He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake."
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He 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."
I'm in love, madly so with Chandler's pen, the magic of 'trance' ; he never fails to engage his reader with his descriptive style:
"Shake your business up and pour it. I don't have all day."
"You're broke, eh?"
"I been shaking two nickels together for a month, trying to get them to mate."
"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window."
Marlowe's a straight shooting man and the arrow 💘 hits home :
"I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
"What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on the top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell."
Philip Marlowe makes Raymond Chandler my standout writer for 2024 .
"He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake."
January 4, 2022
Raymond Chandler's first three Marlowe novels are classic private detective novels set in L.A., setting the scene for decades of sardonic women-hating drunk loners. Nothing scratches quite the private dick itch like Marlowe, and seeing as these were written during the time, there is a certain honest grit to these time capsules. Fair warning, however - these ARE time capsules replete with the misogyny, racism and homophobia that the late 30s and early 40s would never have acknowledged, but 21st century minds can't help but focus on. Farewell, My Lovely might be the richest of the three in language ("I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin."), but it is also the most heart-wrenchingly dehumanizing ("Another shine killing... No pix, no space, not even four lines in the want-ad section").
Whether read for pleasure or as a window into the dark recesses of the American caste system, I suggest accompanying these novels with a carafe full of whisky.
Whether read for pleasure or as a window into the dark recesses of the American caste system, I suggest accompanying these novels with a carafe full of whisky.
July 28, 2018
The original Guy Noir. There isn't much to say about Raymond Chandler's most famous hero that hasn't already been said more than once. I was interested to learn that, though born in Chicago, Chandler was raised in England and went to a British public school where the word "dame" has a different meaning than it does on the streets of Bay City (poor old Santa Monica which doesn't come off very well in Marlow's telling). Made me imagine a Pythonesque ending to the scene in which the thug surprises Marlow by sneaking into his apt while he's asleep, asks him why he left the door off the latch, and Marlow says, "Waiting for a dame." "What dame?" "Just a dame." Finally comes the knock on the door, and in walks Maggie Smith dressed for Downton Abbey.
The author of the intro suggests that "Farewell, My Lovely" beats even "The Big Sleep," and I agree. As the intro notes, Marlow's descriptions of California's sights, sounds, and smells, now getting on for a century ago, are vivid, exact, and beautiful, what you'd expect from a private seamus who knows his Shakespeare. His eye for the telling details of every character, no matter how minor, is striking. But it's his similes that make you remember the books--when I got to "A case of false teeth hung on the mustard-colored wall like a fuse-box in a screen porch," I started writing them down. And top this for a worth-a-thousand-words way to put you inside the underfunded, run-down, neglected Santa Monica City Hall: "Inside was a long, dark hallway that had been mopped the day McKinley was inaugurated." That was a long time ago even then.
And one of the best things is that way back in the early 40's the hero introduced himself at least once as "Marlow. Philip Marlow." So Ian Fleming must have liked him too.
The author of the intro suggests that "Farewell, My Lovely" beats even "The Big Sleep," and I agree. As the intro notes, Marlow's descriptions of California's sights, sounds, and smells, now getting on for a century ago, are vivid, exact, and beautiful, what you'd expect from a private seamus who knows his Shakespeare. His eye for the telling details of every character, no matter how minor, is striking. But it's his similes that make you remember the books--when I got to "A case of false teeth hung on the mustard-colored wall like a fuse-box in a screen porch," I started writing them down. And top this for a worth-a-thousand-words way to put you inside the underfunded, run-down, neglected Santa Monica City Hall: "Inside was a long, dark hallway that had been mopped the day McKinley was inaugurated." That was a long time ago even then.
And one of the best things is that way back in the early 40's the hero introduced himself at least once as "Marlow. Philip Marlow." So Ian Fleming must have liked him too.
June 30, 2020
His skin was pale and he needed a shave. He would always need a shave.
Raymond Chandler may not have invented the hard-boiled detective genre, but he sure perfected it. And that perfection owes less to the usual ingredients of any good story--plot, atmosphere, characters--than a single character through which this dark and gritty world is scrutinized. I'm compelled to start with the hero of these novels, because like a Sherlock Homes, Socrates, or Wonka, it's really one titular character that binds everything together. The difference here is that, unlike the others I've mentioned, Chandler's novels don't have a Watson, Plato, or Bucket to regulate the reader's exposure to greatness. These stories are first person POV, so that every detail, every conversation, and every emotion comes to us through that warped perspective that any good artist has. That artist is of course Philip Marlowe.
I build him up because you love him already. He's the lone wolf detective navigating a world of crime with quippy one liners, whisky, and a ragged code of honor. He invariably meets--and spurns--gorgeous blondes. He's sapped every few chapters. And no matter that he solves every case (often for millionaires) he's always a poor bachelor making his way in an irredeemable 1930s LA. This place and time period, while not too far off the mark historically, is still mythological. Much like Batman's inability to save Gotham, Marlowe's losing battle in LA makes him a bit of a tragic figure. He's heroic in the sense of always knowing what to do in every situation, but his personal cynicism and nonrecognition prevent him from being a "superhero" as we now know them. He's also quaintly sexist. Women for Marlowe are either snares or rewards, and even for the 1940s this struck me as pathetic.
I've known people who argue that these novels are more than this character. Indeed there's an entire genre of the stuff, with plenty of excellent successors (I rather enjoy the film Sin City). But I can't say I agree. As a rule genre fiction is rated as a comparison within that genre, not from without. Chandler's novels, like other famous trend-setters, escape the mold and compete with actual literature. I don't think that would be true for these works outside of the hero. Not only are the plots famously convoluted (Chandler's himself didn't understand them) but there are no meaty ideas here outside of the (now overworked) hero-in-a-shitty-world theme. Evidence of this can be seen in the almost endearing laziness of the book's titles and cringy finishing lines in an attempt at profundity. I don't care about crime, or detectives, or 1930s LA. What I care about is the way Marlowe internalizes the world around him. This is what makes these books worth reading.
I'll go over them briefly. Of the three Farewell My Lovely is the best, and I recommend that to new comers. Here there is a perfect balance between all elements of the narrative--the mystery, the side-characters, and Marlowe's swagger. This novel alone satisfied me, so I would only recommend the others if you still hunger for more. The Big Sleep, Chander's first and most famous book (the film starring Humphrey Bogart is fun but doesn't do it justice) is good enough, but less refined. The High Window is too convoluted and required a solid two page rant by Marlowe, and a further one page rant by the police, to explain the resolution (like a bad Sherlock Holmes story). If I were to read another addition (I won't) it would be the Long Goodbye, which is supposed to deal with heavy themes in Marlowe's life and carry some actual emotional weight.
I'll end this review by elaborating on the way in which Marlowe "internalizes the world around him", which I alluded to earlier. Despite how he's shown on book covers, the hero of these novels rarely ever shoots or even wields a gun. The man is, first and foremost, a detective. He asks insightful questions, investigates pregnant leads, and uses the right mixture of deduction and guesswork to solve his cases. But what comes through to the reader is a detailed description of the world and characters around him; a level higher than your average protagonist, but, unlike their mostly banal prose, Marlowe's vision is tinged with his unique lens, filtered though a heavy 1930s slang. This is hard for me to describe. Indeed only Chandler could. It's that everything in these novels becomes laden with a seedy under-belly that no amount of scrubbing can clean. The cities are dirty and people sleazy. Honest folk are rare and ground to a crawl. Good policemen hide their noble intentions behind a veil of cynicism. And Marlowe's never-ending quest to help people requires that he be a master navigator of these swampy waters, so that he's soaked to the bone in what he despises. The one talisman of hope--an honest, intelligent, unsoiled blonde named Anne Riordan--is offered only briefly as a breath of fresh air, before we have to submerge again in this world of crime. If all this sounds dour let me assure you: you'll love it. You can't help but do so. Because when going through any rough terrain you should always have a capable tour guide, and for this genre, Philip Marlowe is the best.
Raymond Chandler may not have invented the hard-boiled detective genre, but he sure perfected it. And that perfection owes less to the usual ingredients of any good story--plot, atmosphere, characters--than a single character through which this dark and gritty world is scrutinized. I'm compelled to start with the hero of these novels, because like a Sherlock Homes, Socrates, or Wonka, it's really one titular character that binds everything together. The difference here is that, unlike the others I've mentioned, Chandler's novels don't have a Watson, Plato, or Bucket to regulate the reader's exposure to greatness. These stories are first person POV, so that every detail, every conversation, and every emotion comes to us through that warped perspective that any good artist has. That artist is of course Philip Marlowe.
I build him up because you love him already. He's the lone wolf detective navigating a world of crime with quippy one liners, whisky, and a ragged code of honor. He invariably meets--and spurns--gorgeous blondes. He's sapped every few chapters. And no matter that he solves every case (often for millionaires) he's always a poor bachelor making his way in an irredeemable 1930s LA. This place and time period, while not too far off the mark historically, is still mythological. Much like Batman's inability to save Gotham, Marlowe's losing battle in LA makes him a bit of a tragic figure. He's heroic in the sense of always knowing what to do in every situation, but his personal cynicism and nonrecognition prevent him from being a "superhero" as we now know them. He's also quaintly sexist. Women for Marlowe are either snares or rewards, and even for the 1940s this struck me as pathetic.
I've known people who argue that these novels are more than this character. Indeed there's an entire genre of the stuff, with plenty of excellent successors (I rather enjoy the film Sin City). But I can't say I agree. As a rule genre fiction is rated as a comparison within that genre, not from without. Chandler's novels, like other famous trend-setters, escape the mold and compete with actual literature. I don't think that would be true for these works outside of the hero. Not only are the plots famously convoluted (Chandler's himself didn't understand them) but there are no meaty ideas here outside of the (now overworked) hero-in-a-shitty-world theme. Evidence of this can be seen in the almost endearing laziness of the book's titles and cringy finishing lines in an attempt at profundity. I don't care about crime, or detectives, or 1930s LA. What I care about is the way Marlowe internalizes the world around him. This is what makes these books worth reading.
I'll go over them briefly. Of the three Farewell My Lovely is the best, and I recommend that to new comers. Here there is a perfect balance between all elements of the narrative--the mystery, the side-characters, and Marlowe's swagger. This novel alone satisfied me, so I would only recommend the others if you still hunger for more. The Big Sleep, Chander's first and most famous book (the film starring Humphrey Bogart is fun but doesn't do it justice) is good enough, but less refined. The High Window is too convoluted and required a solid two page rant by Marlowe, and a further one page rant by the police, to explain the resolution (like a bad Sherlock Holmes story). If I were to read another addition (I won't) it would be the Long Goodbye, which is supposed to deal with heavy themes in Marlowe's life and carry some actual emotional weight.
I'll end this review by elaborating on the way in which Marlowe "internalizes the world around him", which I alluded to earlier. Despite how he's shown on book covers, the hero of these novels rarely ever shoots or even wields a gun. The man is, first and foremost, a detective. He asks insightful questions, investigates pregnant leads, and uses the right mixture of deduction and guesswork to solve his cases. But what comes through to the reader is a detailed description of the world and characters around him; a level higher than your average protagonist, but, unlike their mostly banal prose, Marlowe's vision is tinged with his unique lens, filtered though a heavy 1930s slang. This is hard for me to describe. Indeed only Chandler could. It's that everything in these novels becomes laden with a seedy under-belly that no amount of scrubbing can clean. The cities are dirty and people sleazy. Honest folk are rare and ground to a crawl. Good policemen hide their noble intentions behind a veil of cynicism. And Marlowe's never-ending quest to help people requires that he be a master navigator of these swampy waters, so that he's soaked to the bone in what he despises. The one talisman of hope--an honest, intelligent, unsoiled blonde named Anne Riordan--is offered only briefly as a breath of fresh air, before we have to submerge again in this world of crime. If all this sounds dour let me assure you: you'll love it. You can't help but do so. Because when going through any rough terrain you should always have a capable tour guide, and for this genre, Philip Marlowe is the best.
Read
January 6, 2026Terrific set of short novels by Chandler. Almost sorry that I borrowed it from the library because I think this will bear lots of re-reading. Chandler's style is so witty and surprising but never becomes dense. Even in the grim, gritty world of Marlowe, I ended up laughing out loud as I read passages sometimes.
There's plenty of questionable Americanisms of the 1930s so get ready for all the racism and chauvinism youc an chew, but for all that, it doesn't ever feel that Marlowe himself is really a hater, just a guy trying to muddle along, trapped in a very imperfect world.
If, like me, you've seen the Big Sleep with Bogart before you read these, you'll probably be imagining Bogart as Marlowe throughout all the novels... which for me was a big plus. It's hard to imagine anyone else dropping these sarcastic retorts on Marlowe's unsuspecting interlocutors.
As reader and writer, lots to think about long after the mysteries are solves and the covers are closed.
There's plenty of questionable Americanisms of the 1930s so get ready for all the racism and chauvinism youc an chew, but for all that, it doesn't ever feel that Marlowe himself is really a hater, just a guy trying to muddle along, trapped in a very imperfect world.
If, like me, you've seen the Big Sleep with Bogart before you read these, you'll probably be imagining Bogart as Marlowe throughout all the novels... which for me was a big plus. It's hard to imagine anyone else dropping these sarcastic retorts on Marlowe's unsuspecting interlocutors.
As reader and writer, lots to think about long after the mysteries are solves and the covers are closed.
June 29, 2025
This volume contains three Philip Marlow mysteries; Raymond Chandler's most famous detective. Marlow is the prototype hard-boiled private investigator. If you listened to Marlow mysteries on old radio classics you are in for a surprise. The radio writers softened Marlow's personality, probably to make the show more family friendly. Chandler's man spends more time drinking and smoking than he does detecting. His dialogue is filled with wise cracks and is uninhibited. Of the three stories I liked the second and third, but found the first one boring. Obviously, Chandler was a creative writer who made this genre famous, but his writing is better for the mid twentieth century and not the twenty first.
June 23, 2017
As with the novels of Robert B. Parker (who went to school on Chandler), it's the writing that makes these a joy. The twisted similes that make such good fodder for parody are all on display here. And Chandler's descriptions benefit from the detachment of an outsider (he was schooled in England). As a result, the novels rise to the level of art, in the opinion of no one less than W.H. Auden. And if he's good enough for Auden, he's good enough for me.
October 4, 2019
These novels were my first encounter with Raymond Chandler, and I found them smart and astonishingly good. I really enjoyed the character and voice of detective Phillip Marlowe. My only quibble is the naked use of offensive slurs towards every group of peoples imaginable. I'm not sure the slurs aren't necessary to depict the world through which Marlowe moved, but they are nonetheless shocking and their use pulls the modern (reactionary) reader away from the story.
September 21, 2018
Read just the first novel of this collection, The Big Sleep. Enjoyed some of the language Chandler used and some of the plot twists but the noir mood/style just didn’t hold my attention for long stretches. Good, not great. Perhaps I’ll visit the supposedly superior Farewell, My Lovely at a later date.
April 11, 2019
The Big Sleep: 3.5
Farewell, My Lovely: 4
The High Window: 4.5
Damn, this guy had a way with words. So stylish. His work feels so modern.
“The white moonlight was cold and clear, like the justice we dream of but don’t find.”
Farewell, My Lovely: 4
The High Window: 4.5
Damn, this guy had a way with words. So stylish. His work feels so modern.
“The white moonlight was cold and clear, like the justice we dream of but don’t find.”
April 7, 2024
The Big Sleep is required reading but not my favorite. Farewell, My Lovely is the most exciting but most outlandish. The High Window is the most realistic but not as exciting as the second.
All are good examples of classic PI stories, though certain passages will make the modern reader wince.
All are good examples of classic PI stories, though certain passages will make the modern reader wince.
Read
July 22, 2019DNF. I finished "The Big Sleep", which I liked, but I wasn't really into the second so I didn't read the rest.
May 14, 2020
The Big Sleep; Farewell My Lovely; The High Window
July 23, 2020
Clever and atmospheric, with the occasional wicked turn of phrase.
September 10, 2020
Same thing I said about Dashell Hammett's short stories.
September 16, 2023
Top notch content and very nice book to have in your collection.
I plan to purchase a lot more Everyman...
I plan to purchase a lot more Everyman...
July 14, 2024
I think the first 3 in the series gets pretty complicated. They stack up the bodies and being hit with black jacks.
November 16, 2024
Farewell, My Lovely
November 8, 2025
The plots are a little convoluted, and I had some trouble keeping track of the different characters, but I just love the way Raymond Chandler writes.
November 21, 2025
Love, love, love this book. The High Window is my absolute favorite from him.
April 13, 2013
Readers just starting out with Chandler (as I was, just last week!), should consider getting The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window. It's a nice hardcover collecting Chandler's first three novels, and it can be ordered online for relatively not much.
The Big Sleep
Nice introduction to Philip Marlowe, and an interesting look at a by-gone era, when one could go to the drugstore to buy some whiskey & cigarettes and sit down for a cup of coffee & a smoke. No, seriously.
As for the story itself, with its multiple deaths & mysteries, intertwining threads and flawed characters, it's incredibly well-written in a minimalist style that manages to evoke the right tone & atmosphere. And the way everything ties together at the end? Wow. It's easy to see why this book is a classic. And this was Raymond Chandler's FIRST novel!
Farewell, My Lovely
I really, really liked this one! I don't know if that's what Raymond Chandler was going for, but I found it quite funny (the things Marlowe says, I tell you...). This is Chandler's second Marlowe book and, as good as the first one was ("The Big Sleep"), "Farewell My Lovely" is head and shoulders above it.
Just like in The Big Sleep, it's a very easy read, and it's a real treat to follow Marlowe around, seemingly without a purpose (even though you just know there's a method to his madness).
And just like in the first book, the mystery is wrapped up in the last 15-20 pages, and that's fine. The way Marlowe goes about it is very clever, it all makes sense, and you wonder why you didn't see it before, since the pieces of the puzzle were all there.
Of course I highly recommend this to absolutely anyone, but especially to fans of noir and detective stories.
The High Window
Not quite as awesome as Farewell, My Lovely, "The High Window" is still a very good book, a taut mystery, with the unflappable Marlowe up to his usual sleuthing.
Next Philip Marlowe mystery: The Lady in the Lake.
The Big Sleep
Nice introduction to Philip Marlowe, and an interesting look at a by-gone era, when one could go to the drugstore to buy some whiskey & cigarettes and sit down for a cup of coffee & a smoke. No, seriously.
As for the story itself, with its multiple deaths & mysteries, intertwining threads and flawed characters, it's incredibly well-written in a minimalist style that manages to evoke the right tone & atmosphere. And the way everything ties together at the end? Wow. It's easy to see why this book is a classic. And this was Raymond Chandler's FIRST novel!
Farewell, My Lovely
I really, really liked this one! I don't know if that's what Raymond Chandler was going for, but I found it quite funny (the things Marlowe says, I tell you...). This is Chandler's second Marlowe book and, as good as the first one was ("The Big Sleep"), "Farewell My Lovely" is head and shoulders above it.
Just like in The Big Sleep, it's a very easy read, and it's a real treat to follow Marlowe around, seemingly without a purpose (even though you just know there's a method to his madness).
And just like in the first book, the mystery is wrapped up in the last 15-20 pages, and that's fine. The way Marlowe goes about it is very clever, it all makes sense, and you wonder why you didn't see it before, since the pieces of the puzzle were all there.
Of course I highly recommend this to absolutely anyone, but especially to fans of noir and detective stories.
The High Window
Not quite as awesome as Farewell, My Lovely, "The High Window" is still a very good book, a taut mystery, with the unflappable Marlowe up to his usual sleuthing.
Next Philip Marlowe mystery: The Lady in the Lake.
May 30, 2017
Ja, jag måste erkänna att jag blev förvånad. Min inställning till deckare i allmänhet är ju inte den bästa. Just Chandler var något som jag mest var nyfiken på i och med hans inflytande på Neuromancer (språket!) mer än annat. Läste lite citat av Chandler och Hammet, köpte en samling av varje.
I alla fall denna var ett väldigt lyckat halv-blindköp. På det stora hela gillade jag verkligen Raymond Chandler. Något jag absolut inte trodde jag skulle göra. Alla tre romaner samlade här är berättade av Philip Marlowe och Chandler lyckas verkligen med känslan av att det är just Marlowe som berättar för en vad som händer. Medans man sitter på en rökig krog och dricker olaglig sprit. Det är just Marlowe och den röst som Chandler ger honom som är böckernas absolut största styrka. Mannen är en alkoholiserad poet som dessutom kan föra rappa, underhållande dialoger. Vad som förvånade mig oerhört är just det bitvis riktigt poetiska språket.
Av alla sammlade här är "The Big Sleep" den bästa. Handlingen är komplicerad och lätt att slarva bort (som i de andra två) men det spelar ingen roll. Stämningen och starka karaktärer håller den uppe ändå. Och slutmonologen där titeln kommer är den starkaste i hela sammlingen. "Farewell, My Lovely" är seg i starten men när den väl kommer igång är även den riktigt bra. Om än skitrasistisk. En sekvens där han först blir slagen i huvudet och sedan fullpumpad med droger är fantastisk. "The High Window" är den sista och även den sämsta. Likt "Farewell..." är den segstartad men kommer aldrig riktigt igång på samma sätt. Då och då brinner den till med samma briljanta prosa, däremot.
På det stora hela? Köp.
February 10, 2011
I've reviewed The Big Sleep previously so this one will focus on the other two novels. Of the two, I think Farewell, My Lovely was darker and more dangerous to the hero. The High Window was sadder and somehow more unresolved. Only some of the killers were brought to justice and not all the really evil characters got what was coming to them which was a bit disappointing. He made me laugh in the "reveal" scene because one of the "villains" made fun of the typical detective story: "Now you're going to tell me how it all happened and include some detail you've been holding back that makes it all clear."
I always end up hoping for Marlowe to have a relationship with the sweet girl in each story because I can see he cares for each of them and wants to protect them but I know in the back of my head that it won't happen. I read in the biographical notes that Chandler rewrote Double Indemnity for the screen based on someone else's writing. I wonder if he wrote part of Chinatown too because it definitely has that same noir LA feel. I realize that this is more a review of the mood of the novels than the plot but I can't help it. That's what sticks with me.
I always end up hoping for Marlowe to have a relationship with the sweet girl in each story because I can see he cares for each of them and wants to protect them but I know in the back of my head that it won't happen. I read in the biographical notes that Chandler rewrote Double Indemnity for the screen based on someone else's writing. I wonder if he wrote part of Chinatown too because it definitely has that same noir LA feel. I realize that this is more a review of the mood of the novels than the plot but I can't help it. That's what sticks with me.
October 15, 2011
The first time I had encountered anything that had developed around the personality & activites of Philip Marlowe, the emotions that had flooded my mind can be summarised as: "No, not Sherlock Holmes, but....". Not only is Marlowe's world light-years away from the Victorian London in terms of time, space, characters, thought-process, but he himself is as different from Holmes as it is possible to imagine. But nevertheless, there are traits in him (I hope you have already noticed that I am not describing the novels in this book, because they are literary accomplishments way beyond my limited reviewing capacity, and better persons have spent reams upon them) that make him the template for any modern detective. If you know him, and are interested in reading his classic cases, this book and its companion volume are the best possible options, since they are sturdier than the Library of America volumes, and you should associate a certain degree of elegant rusticity with Chandler's works, shouldn't you?
April 19, 2022
This review is for The Big Sleep. The tough, smart talking PI is a staple in books and movies. This short novel really laid the major foundation for the genre. Chandler sets up a somewhat complex case involving blackmail and a missing person which moves along well and culminates in some terrific action. The heart of the book is Philip Marlowe - bigoted, misogynistic and sarcastic but also principled (his loyalty to and respect for his client, General Sternwood) and, strangely, dignified (his reaction to the naked Carmen Sternwood - "But this was the room I had to live in. It was all I had in the way of a home...I couldn't stand her in that room any longer".) Terrific.
Also read Farewell My Lovely. Reviewed in a separate entry.
Also read Farewell My Lovely. Reviewed in a separate entry.
June 1, 2009
Chandler is the man--
All the stories are packed with action and very engaging. Of all the three novels, Chandler is at his best in Farewell, My Lovely with his concise, imaginative descriptions and metaphors that kept me amazed throughout.
The Big Sleep is a solid novel with a good story rendered in unique prose. The High Window definitely drops in quality in my opinion, but still delivers a highly entertaining story.
After reading these novels, I have little choice but to read the rest of his oeuvre to see if he attains the quality of writing he does in his second novel.
A great read.
All the stories are packed with action and very engaging. Of all the three novels, Chandler is at his best in Farewell, My Lovely with his concise, imaginative descriptions and metaphors that kept me amazed throughout.
The Big Sleep is a solid novel with a good story rendered in unique prose. The High Window definitely drops in quality in my opinion, but still delivers a highly entertaining story.
After reading these novels, I have little choice but to read the rest of his oeuvre to see if he attains the quality of writing he does in his second novel.
A great read.
June 2, 2016
I know "The Big Sleep" is considered a classic in the noir genre but I found this book rather dull. The 1930s setting is interesting, but not enough to carry the book. The slang is not easy to understand but, like Shakespeare, if you keep reading you get the meaning. My book group said it was obviously written for and popularized by men. There isn't one good female character and the only somewhat good male character, the lead Philip Marlowe, does some questionable things.
This edition was interesting because at the front of the book it gave a history of what what happening in the world and country when this book was written and published -- end of the Depression and leading up to WWII.
This edition was interesting because at the front of the book it gave a history of what what happening in the world and country when this book was written and published -- end of the Depression and leading up to WWII.
March 11, 2013
I've completed only the first of this collection of three novels, and probably won't worry about reading the others before it's due at the library. Curiosity about the well-known Philip Marlowe mysteries motivated me to pick it off the shelf. (I also thought my husband might be interested in it, but he hasn't touched it.) My preconceived notions about Chandler's work were borne out. You can almost hear Humphrey Bogart's voice in the narration.
March 6, 2025
Raymond Chandler is the author who introduced me and addicted me to mysteries set in Los Angeles. Later it would be Michael Connolly, and Sue Grafton for Santa Barbara. The thing about Phillip Marlowe is you believe you know him, the author is so descriptive. You can "feel" old Hollywood. You can "see" the scenes. The Big Sleep was later made into a movie. I read everything he has ever written and won't part with the books.
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