Product Description
Raymond Chandler’s classic gumshoe Philip Marlowe is the quintessential American detective. His effortless masculinity, smoldering sexuality, and verbal fleetness remain the embodiment of cool. He liked liquor, women, and working alone. And, in a world defined by betrayal, mistrust, and double-dealing, Marlowe’s rough exterior belies an unshakable code of honor. Taken together, his observations and witticisms represent some of the most scathing and brilliant writing in crime fiction, and coalesce into a wonderfully alluring worldview: a vision of unswerving righteousness, accountability, and stylish conduct in a sea of turpitude and injustice.

Philip Marlowe’s Guide to Life is an elegant, A–Z compendium of Marlowe’s ever-more-relevant observations about crime, women, work, sex, good, evil, and life in the big city. Chandler’s genius transcended genre; though he seemed to single-handedly invent noir, his work ventured beyond it into an idiom all its own, and he left behind a legacy of grit and disarming beauty. Here is a brilliant and loving tribute to that legacy, sure to delight fans old and new. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

MIGHTY IS THE PROSE
This is a short review for a small sized hardcover book entitled "Philip Marlowe's
Guide to Life," and what a life you will live if you heed the writngs of Raymond Chandler as voiced by his fictional detective, Philip Marlowe.

For example On Blondes: "It was a blonde.A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."Farewell My Lovely.

On Booze: "I don't drink.The more I see of people who do the more glad I am that I don't."The Long Goodbye.

On Faces:"It was a face that had nothing to fear.Everything had been done to it that anybody could think of."Farewell My Lovely.

On Luxury Cars: "It moved away from the curb with as much noise as a bill makes in a wallet."Trouble Is My Business.

By now you get the idea, Marlowe was not only well written and a fine detective, he was also quite the sage.If you haven't read Raymond Chandler's novels you really should indulge yourself and enjoy hours of pleasure.But getting this little book will give you a fair sampling of that pleasure as well, maybe not hours but certainly moments.

I have rated this tiny tome four stars mainly because I think it really should have been fifteen or twenty pages longer, to say the least.Or maybe a couple of inches taller & wider.In other words I think there should be more of it, especially considering what is being asked for this little book.

By the way, I have read my copy much more than just once or twice.No matter the size of the container, vintage Chandler is usually just right and quite tasty.

O.K. little book
This is a good little book for Marlowe fans, but the cost for the volume is too high.It is one of those books you will read once and never open again.

Down These Mean Streets A Man Must Go
This is a really great little pocket-sized hardback book that no Raymond Chandler fan should miss. Elegant in design and typography, it is a remarkable compilation of great quotations from the major Philip Marlowe novels,"The Big Sleep"(1939),"Farewell, My Lovely"(1940),"The High Window"(1942),"The Lady In The Lake"(1943),"The Little Sister"(1949), "The Long Goodbye" (1954), "Playback" as well as selected pre-Marlowe stories from Black Mask magazine. The quotations are listed by alphabetical category, such as "Booze", "Broads", "Murder" ... you get the drift. Ross Macdonald summed it up best: "Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence."

"Dead men are heavier than broken hearts."
GREAT QUOTES. But I feel you would be better off reading them in the original text and picking out your own. Why should I think some guy has better taste than me ? Not likely. Some are missed and some others are not that great. The main problem with Chandler is he started writing late in life and just didn't write enough. No question he was THE BEST writer of hardboiled mystery detective fiction who ever wrote. So buy this it is good for a portable and write the quotes he missed on the blank pages.

"Dead men are heavier than broken hearts."

A small book of RC quotations.
If you want a handy book of Raymond Chandler's quotations, this might be OK.I was a bit disappointed at it's small size and large price. Money would be better spent buying and reading RC's superb omnibus collection. Hardly a page goes by without a worthy quotation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Duped Once Again
I purchased this book seeking the truth. What I got sounded more like the unibombers manifesto.It spends most of the book making Evan Chandler's excuses for his delusional behavior. It nitpicks at every remark while quoting peopel that had an axe to grind , fired employees mostly. What it does do is give a first hand report to the fact that Evan Chandler actually did plant false memories in his sons head during a dental procedure.I say if you are only interested in the ravings of a madman read it, but be sure you understand it for what it is. It is actually the confession of a father who sold his son out in an attempt to become rich.He even confesses that it took more thant an hour after the dental proceedure and the confession of lying about what he knew saying that he had the bedroom bugged to produce the desired effect of false memory. Jordan if you are out there please go to see a qualified professional to right this thing in you mind, it is the only way for you to find the peace of mind you need and become a whole person again.

All That Glitters The Crime and The Coverup
I was just wondering if I could please have my money back. When is this man going to confess that his brother worte this while the whole thing was going on if not before.All I can say is YUCK.

Book based on conjecture
I found this book to be interesting. I have read books from all across the spectrum about Michael Jackson (guity, not guilty, biographies).What bothered me about this book is that the author created actual conversations at meetings and situations at which the author was not present.At best, he must have gotten an account of them from his brother, and that is called hearsay.Rather than saying, "My brother told me..." he actually recites conversations as accurately portraying what took place.

Regardless, I was rather apalled that the book seemed to confirm that Evan Chandler saw the alleged molestation of his child as an opportunity to get money,(and the largest amount amount possible) rather than to obtain "justice".The re-created conversations between attorney Larry Feldman and Evan Chandler show two men gleefully plotting and strategizing how to get the most money out of Jackson.While there are some feeble attempts to justify this, they do not ring true.Actually, this book and Diane Dimond's "Be Careful Who You Love" did more to convince me of Jackson's innocence than most of the pro-MJ books.

And note this book was written in 2004, after the 2003 accusations.If the story was so important to get out, why was this book not written in the '90s?Another person attemtping to cash in on Jackson while the interest was high?And the book was poorly edited: 'manager' being spelled as 'manger', and Jackson being referred to as being 26 on September 5, 1985, when he was actually 27.There were more errors besides, which indicates to me that this book was not carefully edited.

I believe the book was intended to be an apologia for Evan Chandler.If so, it failed.If anything I was left with a worse opinion of Evan Chandler than before I read the book.

Another side of Michael Jackson
Jordan was the second of three child molestation charges Michael Jackson received.The son of one of Michael's maids was the first one.

If Michael didn't want these accusations to come about, he would have done better to stop sleeping with other people's sons.Many concerned friends and family warned him that it didn't look good when middle-aged men can't stop sleeping with boys.

I expect rabid fans will consider it all lies, or make excuses for Michael's behavior.
Read Jordan Chandler's statements on the internet, make up your own mind as to what might be the facts.

Jordan did not ever recant his story, that was a rumor that was spread after Michael's death.

Should Be Listed in Fiction
The byline on this book should be: Apologist to an extortion.The book is clearly written in direct response to Mary Fischer's GQ article and uncle Ray tries his best to refute the months of research done in preparation for that article.The main problem with this book is that Raymond Chandler had very little contact with the "characters" about which he writes.Clearly, his greedy brother did not share any of the money with him so Ray decided to write his own book from an insider's perspective.However, Ray had very little to offer in that regard.He knows that his brother is a money-hungry pig so he can factually write about his experiences on that issue.However, he had no contact with Jordie and could not describe anything that occurred there.It is important to note that Ray Chandler has repeatedly stated over the years that he felt bad about the impact that the allegations had on Michael's career.Does that make sense to anyone if he truly believed that Michael had molested his nephew?

More importantly, while many interviews were not published, Evan Chandler spoke to anyone who would listen to his tale.His conversations with others contradicted those included in uncle Ray's book.Uncle Ray does one very interesting thing: he makes a number of carefully disguised admissions that show it was an extortion.I believe that was the true intent of the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Raymond Chandler was a pioneer of what came to be known as hard-boiled mystery-detective fiction. His Philip Marlowe is America's tough, realistic equivalent to Victorian England's more refined Sherlock Holmes. This reference work includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries for Chandler's individual novels and short stories, his characters, family members, and professional acquaintances. Entries for fiction provide plot synopses, identification of characters, and brief critical commentaries. Longer entries cite numerous critical works for further reading. ... Read more

Product Description
This title features three adaptations of "Raymond Chandler's" tales of the classic noir "PI Philip Marlowe". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Marlowe in the comic books!
Raymond Chandler's Marlowe: The Graphic Novel, A Trilogy of Crime is a series of 3 stories in 1 book (2 B&W art, 1 color ART with a great cover by Jim Steranko). This adapts Chandler's stories: GOLDFISH, TROUBLE IS MY BUSINESS and THE PENCIL. The adaptations are all terrific and spot on with the novels.

GOLDFISH is in color with Bruce Timm/Darwyn Cooke style art by Rian Hughes.
The whole thing is better than Michael Lark's LITTLE SISTER adaptation... Buy this if you are a MARLOWE fan. Great stuff. Softcover Printing

A failed experiment
This book has a great Steranko cover, but it's all downhill after that. It makes a good argument that Chandler's verbose writing and tangled mysteries are better in their original form than as graphic adaptations.The images here do little to clarify the stories, and in some sequences make the narrative more confusing.I had to read some pages several times to comprehend what was going on.If you want noir comics, read the Sin City series by Frank Miller.If you want Raymond Chandler, read the originals. But pass on this one.

Accurate storyline
Three of Chandler's short stories told in comic book style are fairly accurate to the originals.The first, "Goldfish", has mediocre graphics --and I'm being kind!The art is sometimes so poor that it becomes confusing as to what character is speaking.But the second two stories have excellent illustration that graphically enhances the storyline.These two,"Trouble Is My Business" & "The Pencil", make the book worth reading and provide an interesting adaptation.Any story in print, however, is the best way to appreciate Chandler and neither film noir nor comics can surpass the experience he provides on the printed page.

Love colorful illustrations, abbreviated comic style dialog I could'nt get use to.
This Philip Marlowe Graphic novel looks great but I'm a big fan of Raymond Chandler's short stories and novels and I just could'nt get use to the shorten dialog, though I know it was necessary for the comic book style mode. Just the same the illustrations are superb.

A New Style for Philip Marlowe.
My first impresssion was what a shame to make a comic book out of Raymond Chandler's classic crime novels.But, the more I got into it, I realized what a great idea -- as this novel beginning can educate a whole different audience, a new generation, those whose concentration allows them to read only this type of format in literature.

The hair styles of the women and short, wide ties of the men date the stories, making this new process appear old. Just today, I told a tall man "I like your tie" which was wide, bright, and long.

Included are three stories featuring Philip Marlowe of Hollywood, California, GOLDFISH, TROUBLE IN MY BUSINESS, and THE PENCIL (by Helga Greene).Marlowe represents the basic conflict of the human condition.He works hard at his job, but is not always successful in his 'heroic quest for the truth.'

Chandler wrote: "as (a) detective, outside the story and above it, and always will be."He should have known -- he created this 'misogynistic' character.In movies, Marlowe has been acted out by Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, and Robert Mitchum.

The creator, R. Chandler, was born in Chicago but educated in England.His first Philip Marlowe novel, THE BIG SLEEP, was published in 1939.He continued writing for twenty years in America until his death in 1959.

These were adapted to this format by Tom DeHaven, James Rose and Jerome Charyn for Byron Preiss Visual Publications.I hope they will do more, as these are delightful. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

The complex art of Chandler
An excellent, accessible and profusely illustrated bedside companion to Raymond Chandler and his writings.

More scrapbook than standard-issue biography, RAYMOND CHANDLER: A LITERARY REFERENCE will delight both Chandler scholars as well as newcomers trying to better negotiate the author's haunted and dog-legged literary mean streets. Chandler veterans and novices alike will find something to enjoy - and often things they never knew - on almost every page.

Moss draws on Chandler's own fiction, notebooks and letters as well as contempory reviews, newspaper and magazine articles and published interviews with such colleagues as John Houseman and Billy Wilder to illuminate both the author and his most renowned literary creation, the deadpan knight errant Philip Marlowe. Moss also cites from the posthumous appreciations and essays that began to appear in the 1960s and '70s when the incalculable value of Chandler's literary legacy began to be more widely appreciated in the United States.

Despite the multiple sources he employs, the result of Moss' efforts is a seamless and beautifully limned pen-portrait of one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.

The book will serve as a handy *aide memoire* to the initiated, a point of departure for further research to those just beginning to explore the beauty and power of Chandler's writing and the loneliness of his life. Very highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Robert B.Parker
If you like 'early' Parker works this is a 'must-read' for you! I have read all of his work and this ranks up with his best!

Solid Marlowe Mystery
Poodle Springs is Robert B. Parker's completion of a novel started by Raymond Chandler before he died in 1959 featuring private detective Philip Marlow.While I have read some of Chandler's previous novels featuring Marlow I have no emotional attachment to the character so I come with a blank slate in terms of evaluating whether Parker lives up to Chandler's character.Frankly I thought Parker did a fabulous job with the novel.It is a rather straightforward, gritty mystery, and a well done one at that.The tricky part is the unlikely event of Marlowe's being married to Linda Loring ne Potter (what her last name really is was a bit confusing to me, except she is now Mrs. Marlowe in this novel).

In this novel Marlowe is living in the plush community of Poodle Springs with his very wealthy wife instead of his usual gritty haunts in Los Angeles.He is hired to find a man who has skipped out on a $100,000 IOU from an illegal gambling establishment.It turns out the fellow is leading a double life involving pornography and blackmail and has gotten himself way over is head.Marlowe, intrepid as ever, chases him down in a nicely twisted plot.While doing this Marlowe has to deal with his rich wife's unhappiness over his continuing to be a private eye when he could live a life of leisure and spend time with her.But that he can't do or he wouldn't be Philip Marlowe anymore.The story revolved more around the case than Marlowe's marriage to Linda but Parker does a great job of blending it in.Frankly, I think this is one of the better novels Parker has written.

My only complaint about the novel is that we really never get to know Linda very well at all.Her mannerisms come off as a spoiled rich debutante but she is clearly not that.But we don't really ever know where she is coming from or get to know her.I suspect that Parker had plenty to work with to flesh out Marlowe's actions but had absolutely nothing to go on as to how Chandler envisioned developing Linda's character.So, my speculation is, in deference to Chandler he didn't try to flesh her character out too much but just left her pretty much like he found her.She comes off as a real swell gal.

Overall, on pure enjoyment, I highly recommend it.

A Pleasant Read
"Poodle Springs" is not Raymond Chandler's best work.It is not Robert B. Parker's best work, either.It doesn't quite have the edge of the usual Marlowe, or the wit of the usual Spenser.

Having said that, Chandler and Parker are both quite talented and capable authors.Either of them could make a cereal box interesting!So you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours with "Poodle Springs."It is a quick, fun read.The mystery itself is not mind-bending, but it does keep you guessing for a while.

I would have given the book four stars, such is my respect for both authors.However, a pet peeve.Parker fans are, no doubt, well aware of Parker's penchant for angst-filled relationships, where the parties love each other desperately - even perfectly - but cannot live together.And forget being married!In Parker's world, marriage risks crushing the vibrant soul of the hero every time.This was an interesting theme, maybe, when Parker first explored it with Spenser and Susan Silverman.

But since then, he has included it in every book series he's touched.The pattern is the same every time, and it has gotten quite tedious.As annoyed as I was to see it reappear in the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone novels, at least those series are purely Parker's domain to use as he wishes to explore his marriage issues.But to impose his peculiar hangup on Chandler's work here in "Poodle Springs" is to, I think, overstep his bounds.And I say this as a devoted Parker fan who owns every one of his books.

Decent Marlowe mystery completed by Parker 30 years after Chandler's death !
Chandler is best known for his half dozen private-eye Philip Marlowe novels, written during the 40's and 50's.(Chandler also authored numerous screenplays and short stories...)Marlowe is a hard-boiled, handsome but tough-guy detective who solves crimes in no frills mysteries in the vein of his fictional contemporaries Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane."Poodle Springs" arose from four chapters penned by Chandler himself prior to his death (in 1959), and then completed in full-length novel form in 1989 by fan and famous author Robert B. Parker.The setting is undoubtedly fashioned after the ritzy Palm Springs and the grittier side of Hollywood.

Marlowe has moved in with his wealthy wife, who wants him to quit the "sordid" detective work that seems to be his passion to concentrate on her and her social activities.But Marlowe refuses to be a kept man, insisting that his work defines him and makes him whole despite his love for wife Linda.After his move to the Springs, he lands a job investigating a missing photographer that owes a hundred grand to a casino.He soon enough figures out the gambler is basically a con man who is already married to a nice downtown Hollywood gal worlds apart from his (other) wealthy wife, another Poodle Springs denizen.The plot moves along at a decent hunt-and-chase pace, filled with smoking, boozing, and sexual innuendo (but nothing explicit), with a couple more shootings along the way before Marlowe figures the whole thing out before the cops can zero in on the villain.

Supposedly Parker has done a credible job finishing the book.The novel is a quick, fun read without too much violence or overwrought suspense - and few words are wasted on anything but the central storyline as Marlowe relentlessly chases clues and solves the mystery.Such classic fiction from half a century ago seems a little tame by today's thriller standards, but then again a low stress read can still amuse and entertain.We enjoyed Marlowe well enough to consider seeking out some of the original stories and catching up on his famous creator's own story telling prowess.

If you like Parker's Spenser novels, enjoy.
Having never read a Marlowe book, I can't imagine that Parker kept his writing very true to the spirit of Marlowe. Having read every Spenser novel, I can tell you that about 1/3 of the way through the book I just started imagining that Marlowe was Spenser in some sort of time warp and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Is this the way it should have been? Of course not, but I like the Spenser novels so I guess I really can't complain. I just kept wondering where Hawk was! ... Read more

Product Description
Mandarin's Jade, The Man Who Liked Dogs, and Try the Girl are three of Raymond Chandler's early mystery stories that set the groundwork for the creation of the Philip Marlowe character. His fast-paced style has become the hallmark of American mystery at its best. 4 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mandarin's Jade Plus others
The combination of Elliot Gould and Raymond Chandler I find superb. For me it takes that combination. All the stories in this collection I really liked. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

wonderful classics
We've seen the movies, but the books - I don't think I ever read them. They are terrific, Chandler deserves his reputation as being the top of the line, the Cadillac of mystery writers. I can't put this book down. It's wonderful to read about how California was back in the '30s. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

The opposite of reading Raymond Chandler
I think a good book is one you want to read twice. I have read all of Raymond Chandler at least five times. On that scale I wouldn't read this book at all.
This is a long hard slog through moral dilemmas, paradoxes, masks, symbols, meanings that no-one else sees and everything that made you hate English in High School. It was probably aimed at others in the Raymond Chandler trade and for all I know may be excellent in that company.
Wolfe sometimes lapses from professional detachment to attack Marlowe for not marrying Anne Riordan, making mistakes, not liking children, being self-destructive, not making a good income, having a bad attitude and not trying to achieve wholeness. One of my favorite sentences "the great fat solid Pacific trudging in to shore like a scrub-woman going home" is dismissed as simply evidence of Marlowe's malice and irritability.
I did get one thing from this book. I had never noticed that in The Little Sister "the sweaty greasy kitchens that would have poisoned a toad" in Ch. 12 is followed by the appearance of Joseph P Toad in Ch 13. Maybe Chandler was getting us ready. Still, it's a pretty hard-won nugget.

If You're A Serious Chandler Fan, GRAB THIS BOOK!!
Somewhere between the harshness of Frank McShane's biography and the apologetics of Tom Hiney's later work lies the true essence of Raymond Chandler.Wolfe's "Something Darker Than Night: The Case of Raymond Chandler" seeks to fill that gap, and -- I believe -- largely succeeds.

Wolfe's approach to Chandler is to dissect his writings, which he does with all the analytical skills and precision of an English teacher (at the time of this book, Wolfe was associate professor of English at University of Missouri - St. Louis).Doing this, and unlike most other Chandler scholars, he refuses to take a single word or phrase at face value.

He additionally resists the fairly common assumption that Chandler and Phillip Marlowe were "one and the same," or that Marlowe was at all times merely an alter-ego or "projection" of Chandler.As a result of both factors, both writer and creation emerge into the light as more fully rounded individuals.

Wolfe does occasionally fall astray: In discussing "The Long Goodbye," for example, he notes that Marlowe, having relocated to a small house on Yucca Avenue, has "taken part in the 50s 'white flight to the suburbs'."In this -- which he subsequently conceded in correspondence -- Wolfe is victimized by an ignorance of Los Angeles history and demographics of that era.Likewise, in his otherwise excellent synopsis of "Double Indemnity" he neglects to distinguish between the original screenplay and the finished film version, a failing which can cause more than a moment's confusion for the reader who has seen the movie.

Such flaws are minor considerations.

Wolfe's study is refreshingly devoid of "personal agenda:" he neither excoriates nor excuses Chandler's personal failings.The result -- and Wolfe's great contribution -- is a volume which (whether or not you agree with all of his conclusions) will deepen your understanding of Chandler (and Marlowe) without dampening your enjoyment of either. ... Read more

Product Description
In the past decade, Raymond Chandler has come to be recognized as a major mid-century American novelist. Though an immensely popular writer of mysteries, Chandler is now receiving the serious attention of scholars. He is seen as a writer with a deliberate approach toward the creation of fictions that present a significant criticism of American life. The essays and reviews in this volume trace the response to Chandler's work from 1944 to the present. ... Read more

Product Description
In this innovative, graphic adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister illustrator Michael Clark captures the film-noir vision of Los Angeles that Chandler brought compellingly to life in this classic novel. Full-color illustrations.Amazon.com Review
Remember those great film adaptations of Raymond Chandler'swork? Who could forget Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The BigSleep or Dick Powell playing the same character in Farewell, MyLovely? In Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: The LittleSister, illustrator Michael Lark has given us a brand-newincarnation of Chandler's famous fictional detective, a "comicbook" version of Chandler's 1949 mystery. When Orfamay Questhires Marlowe to find her missing brother, the case at first seemspretty straightforward, but--beset by mobsters, blackmailers, andmurder--Marlowe soon discovers that a missing person is the least ofhis troubles.

The Little Sister was not one of RaymondChandler's best efforts, but Michael Lark has effectively tailored thetext to clarify the original story, emphasizing through his"comic noir" artwork the dark, dangerous environs, bothphysical and psychological, in which Philip Marlowe still moves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Captures Chandler's world perfectly
Chandler is my favorite author, and this graphic novel captures Marlowe the way he is in the books: a solitary figure without the movie star detective pizazz Humphrey Bogart gave Marlowe in The Big Sleep. Bogart's a great actor but he didn't capture the true essence of Marlowe the way this work does. When I read this, it's exactly the way I have always pictured Marlowe. A tired, unflashy, cynical gumshoe.

The artwork is crisp and expertly rendered without being to Marvel-esque, the shadows are deep and black creating a true noir environment, and the convoluted storyline is masterfully condensed. This graphic novel captures Marlowe the way he was written. I wish the authors of this gem would do another Chandler adaptation, maybe of Red Wind, probably one of the best hard boiled detective stories written. The opening paragraph of that story is worth the price of admission alone. If you are unfamiliar with Raymond Chandler, reading his works will spoil it for you with other crime writers, he's that good. This work does Chandler justice.

Great Stuff
This is a great yet little known gem of a graphic novel. Michael Lark's art combined with Chandler's prose make for an exciting read. It's a great addition to hardboiled crime collection.

Excellent mix
Often during a movie or graphic novel adaptation of a book you get the feeling of something not matching up. Especially during a movie, even if I don't know it is based on a book, there is some quality that tells me it must have been.
This illustration doesn't have that missing quality. The two fit. A very enjoyable read.

Great Detective Thriller!!
Private detective, Philip Marlowe, has been hired to find a missing brother of a concerned sister for a measly sum of twenty dollars. Little does he know that he will soon be drawn into a dangerous situation involving mobsters, blackmail, beautiful women and murders.

This is a graphic adaptation of the classic Raymond Chandler novel. You will find Michael Lark's artwork to be a little rough and dark but you will soon get drawn in and find that it does fit in superbly with the noir/pulp styling of the novel. As this is based on a novel you will find that the story revolves around the writing so don't expect any action sequences, but this will make the experience of`The Little Sister' better, longer and more memorable, especially the sarcastic comments from detective Philip Marlowe, who is a likeable ...P>Recommended for a change from the overwhelming superhero graphic novels, this classy detective thriller will satisfy you with both is storytelling and artwork.

Illustrated Mystery - Love IT!
I've always been a fan of Raymond Chandler's books - they are so twisted and convoluted.Michael Lark has really brought that sense of being "in the dark" to his adaption of "The Little Sister". Both in terms of plot development and the artwork.

The artwork is darkand differs from most comic book art in that it uses crisp lines, very fewcolor gradients in conjunction with heavy inking.Michael Lark and AlexWald hit upon an dark, art-nouveaux style that works really well for thisgenre. ... Read more

Product Description
La vida de Raymond Thornton Chandler compania de petroleo, antes de convertirse en novelista de exito. Maestro de un genero como el policiaco, atrapado en el lugar comun de la evasion, hay en su serie narrativa del detective Marlowe demasiadas senales que le hacen merecedor de ocupar un lugar en la literatura en sentido estricto.«El largo adios» fue recibido de forma entusiasta por los medios desde su publicacion, primero en Inglaterra en 1953 y al ano siguiente en Norteamerica. Junto a los habituales tics satiricos y cinicos del inconfundible detective Marlowe, en los que le reconocemos como el sujeto, el heroe moral y fisico al que estamos habituados, Chandler le somete a una jugada inesperada que le metaboliza en objeto, en victima, en su busqueda irrenunciable al descubrimiento de la verdad. En el fresco social de triunfadores y marginales, de victimas y corruptos, Marlowe, y el lector que le acompane, siempre encontrara un momento para disfrutar de un cafe recien hecho o de un «gimlet», del calor humedo de los bulevares, de la silueta de las colinas ... Read more

Product Description
Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Erle Stanley Gardner, amateur detectives known collectively as the Black Mask boys, join forces once again in a mystery, set among the rich and famous of 1930s California, that moves from Hearst Castle to Venice-by-the-Sea canals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Search for the Little Sister
This historical novel is set in Southern California of the 1930s and uses real and fictional characters for its murder mystery. Raymond Chandler is the narrator. The `Afterword' explains the rationale of the book, inspired by real-life agency reports. [Did he read any?]

Chapter 1 reviews the mysterious death of Thelma Todd, who may have said "no" after too many "yeses". Chandler wrote stories about crime and detection, not a "socially significant" novel. The story begins with the death of Julian Pascal, Chandler's wife's ex-husband. An apparent suicide in a cemetery. [There is a short and incomplete summary of Chandler's life.] Chandler identified Pascal's body, and explained why he doubted a suicide (Chapter 2). So Chandler starts an investigation into Pascal's death, like a classic pulp fiction story that proves the police theory was wrong. Erle Stanley Gardner, the practical realist, wonders about the miles per gallon for Chandler's Duesenberg "one of the finest automobiles in the world" (p.21).

Events occur as the story moves on. A woman in a white limousine is seen at Pascal's burial. We meet real and fictional people in this novel. A woman hires Chandler to find her little sister. Chandler gets Hammett for this search. A "ghost" tells Chandler it was murder! They visit various places on their quest for the facts. These are described quickly. Some secrets are uncovered by the investigation. Chandler finds the missing little sister. Trouble follows this business.

In Chapter 17 we get the facts behind the mystery. The little sister meets Chandler and tells her story. There is a secretive night visit where they find another body, and the little sister (Chapter 20). When they find a second body Chandler solves the murders in a surprise ending. The last chapter ends the story. [We learn why it is good business to get your money up front.]

I don't know what purpose Nolan had in this portrayal of Chandler. Chandler had served in the front-line trenches of the Great War, unlike Hammett or Gardner. That was about twenty years earlier than this story.

I am glad I did not give up on this interesting novel.
3-and-a-half stars. There is a Chinese curse that states "May you live in interesting times." So to say The Marble Orchard is an interesting book may be interpreted as a good or a bad thing. And there are good and bad elements to Mr. Nolan's work.
The plot involves Raymond Chandler seeking down the killer of his wife Cissy's first husband, even though all the evidence points to suicide. Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, three thugs and an actress specializing in vampiric roles all play parts in the not-bad mystery.
One of the interesting (and unsuccessful) things about TMO is that it is decidedly not hard-boiled. Which may be a valid take on the premise. After all, the authors who wrote the stories were very different from their creations- educated, generally refined men. But this is a fanciful take on the era anyway, so why not go the extra step, I thought? Most of the people were very polite in this novel; its early sections read like one of the English school of mysteries that Chandler disliked and so vigorously deconstructed in The Simple Art of Murder.
But I read on, and at some point, things subtly shifted for the darker and better, and made me realize that the story structure was skillfully similar, even if the trappings were more urbane: the joes and janes peopling the book got nastier, Chandler got sapped and awakened doped (in a scene very like Farewell, My Lovely); Hammett pulled a gun on some thugs; a blackmail plot surfaced; and duplicitous motives appeared out of what had been to that point a disappointingly linear plot. The resolution was as contrived as any good Black Mask novel should be. Not all that plausible, but possible, and entertaining.
Another great thing is how Nolan plays with the way that Chandler and Philip Marlowe *were* alike: a romantic core which appears late in the novel beneath their crust of cynicism. Also, the camaraderie portrayed between Hammett, Chandler and Gardner is a big plus, even if it was entirely manufactured.
The bad things about the novel end up being very few, but they are harmful. Like many modern writers, Nolan seems embarrassed at the lack of political correctness in the original Black Mask stories he seeks to bring to mind. So he creates characters and subplots which advance the story not a whit and seem to exist only to administer some ethereal type of social justice. This treacle was applied, I am sure, with the best of intentions, but garnered the worst of results, coming off as phony, preachy and altogether out-of-place.
Also, the non-stop factoids are interesting for history and trivia buffs to a point, but Nolan goes too far- a litany of what Hammett read as he began his writing career is unnecessary, dull and obvious. The history of cities is again mildly interesting but superfluous; Chandler painted a better picture of SoCal towns with two snotty comments than do the encyclopedic entries of this novel. And, surprisingly, the Chaplin, Welles, Hearst and Temple cameos actually distract from the atmosphere, as they have no relevancy to the plot whatsoever and instead remind us that what we are reading is not historical at all.
Still, Mr. Nolan has succeeded in writing a very well-crafted novel that held my interest despite being nothing like what I expected- not easy to do. And this Black Mask fan thanks him sincerely for keeping an era and a genre, if not exactly a style, alive and kicking. ... Read more