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This page lists novels, short story collections, and non-fiction books by Raymond Chandler and books about Raymond Chandler and his work.

Note that the cover image are for the first edition (usually USA sometimes UK) and for a recent paperback or digital edition.

By Raymond Chandler
- novels
- short story collections
- omnibus editions
- non-fiction (inc letters)

About Raymond Chandler
- biographical / critical

The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler

1939

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood's two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA's seedy backstreets, Marlowe's got his work cut out - and that's before he stumbles over the first corpse."

Farewell, My Lovely

Raymond Chandler

1940

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Cynical Los Angeles Private Investigator Philip Marlowe always falls for a sob story. Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married - until Malloy was framed for armed robbery. Now he's out and he wants Velma back. Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe's search for Velma turns up plenty of gangsters with a nasty habit of shooting first and talking later. And soon what started as a search for a missing person becomes a matter of life and death."

The High Window

Raymond Chandler

1942

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe's on a case: his client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband's collection. That's the simple part. It becomes more complicated when Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead. That's also unlucky for a private investigator, because leaving a trail of corpses around LA puts cops' noses seriously out of joint. If Marlowe doesn't wrap this one up fast, he's going to end up either in jail or in a wooden box in the ground."

The Lady in the Lake

Raymond Chandler

1943

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to find a missing woman. Derace Kingsley's wife ran away to Mexico to get a divorce and marry a hunk named Chris Lavery. Or so the note she left her husband says. Trouble is, when Philip Marlowe asks Lavery about it he denies everything. But when Marlowe next encounters Lavery, he's denying nothing - on account of the two bullet holes in his heart. Now Marlowe's on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy Los Angeles all the way to a murky mountain lake."

The Little Sister

Raymond Chandler

1949

The UK publication was 3 months earlier than the US publication.

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Her name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or leastways that's what she tells PI Philip Marlowe, offering him a measly twenty bucks for the privilege. But Marlowe's feeling charitable - though it's not long before he wishes he wasn't so sweet. You see, Orrin's trail leads Marlowe to luscious movie starlets, uppity gangsters, suspicious cops and corpses with ice picks jammed in their necks. When trouble comes calling, sometimes it's best to pretend to be out."

The Long Good-bye

Raymond Chandler

1953

The UK publication was earlier than the US publication. The original UK edition had the title "The Long Good-bye". The US edition and most subsequent editions had "The Long Goodbye".

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to his only friend in the world: Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator. He's willing to help a man down on his luck, but later, Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe finds himself drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many more stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth?"

Playback

Raymond Chandler

1958

The UK publication was 4 months earlier than the US publication.

A Philip Marlowe novel.

"Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is mixing business with pleasure - he's getting paid to follow a lovely mysterious redhead called Eleanor King. And wherever Miss King goes, trouble is sure to follow. But she's easy on the eye and Marlowe's happy to do as he's told. But one dead body later and what started out as a lazy afternoon's snooping soon becomes a deadly cocktail of blackmail, lies, mistaken identity - and murder."

Poodle Springs

Raymond Chandler & Robert B. Parker

1989

A Philip Marlowe novel. Four chapters of this novel were completed by Chandler prior to his death in 1959. Completed by Parker and published in 1989 to mark the centenary of Chandler's birth.

"Marlowe is back...and he's married to a rich, beautiful society lady who want him to settle down in the posh desert community of Poodle Springs. Marlowe may have married rich, but old habits die hard: he's hired to recover a gambling debt and soon finds himself in a case involving bigamy, pornography and murder."

5 Murderers

Raymond Chandler

1944

Five stories originally published separately in magazines. The contents are:

• Goldfish
• Spanish Blood
• Blackmailers Don't Shoot
• Guns at Cyrano's
• Nevada Gas

Five Sinister Characters

Raymond Chandler

1945

Five stories originally published separately in magazines. The contents are:

• Trouble is My Business
• Pearls Are a Nuisance
• I'll Be Waiting
• The King in Yellow
• Red Wind

Finger Man, and Other Stories

Raymond Chandler

1946

Four stories originally published separately in magazines. The contents are:

• Finger Man
• The Bronze Door
• Smart-Aleck Kill
• The Simple Art of Murder

Red Wind

Raymond Chandler

1946

A collection of five stories. The contents are:

• Red Wind
• Blackmailers Don't Shoot
• I'll Be Waiting
• Goldfish
• Guns at Cyrano's

Spanish Blood

Raymond Chandler

1946

A collection of five stories. The contents are:

• Spanish Blood
• The King in Yellow
• Pearls Are a Nuisance
• Nevada Gas
• Trouble is My Business

The Simple Art of Murder

Raymond Chandler

1950

A collection of stories plus the essay The Simple Art Of Murder. The contents are:

• The Simple Art Of Murder
• Spanish Blood
• I'll Be Waiting
• The King in Yellow
• Pearls Are a Nuisance
• Pickup on Noon Street
• Smart-Aleck Kill
• Guns at Cyrano's
• Nevada Gas

Trouble Is My Business

Raymond Chandler

1950

A collection of four novellas. The contents are:

• Trouble is My Business
• Finger Man
• Goldfish
• Red Wind

Pick-up on Noon Street

Raymond Chandler

1952

A collection of four stories. The contents are:

• Pick-up on Noon Street "Smart-Aleck Kill
• Guns at Cyrano's
• Nevada Gas

Smart-Aleck Kill

Raymond Chandler

1953

A collection of four stories. The contents are:

• Smart-Aleck Kill
• Pick-up on Noon Street
• Nevada Gas
• Spanish Blood

Pearls Are a Nuisance

Raymond Chandler

1958

A collection of three stories plus the essay The Simple Art Of Murder. The contents are:

• Pearls Are a Nuisance
• Finger Man
• The King in Yellow
• The Simple Art of Murder

Killer in the Rain

Raymond Chandler

1964

A collection of stories. The contents are:

• Killer in the Rain
• The Man Who Liked Dogs
• The Curtain
• Try the Girl
• Mandarin's Jade
• Bay City Blues
• The Lady in the Lake
• No Crime in the Mountains

The Smell of Fear

Raymond Chandler

1965

A collection of 14 stories. The contents are:

• Blackmailers Don't Shoot
• Pearls Are a Nuisance
• Finger Man
• The King in Yellow
• Smart-Aleck Kill
• Pick-up on Noon Street
• Nevada Gas
• Spanish Blood
• Trouble is My Business
• Red Wind
• I'll Be Waiting
• Goldfish
• Guns at Cyrano's
• The Pencil

Collected Stories

Raymond Chandler

1965

"The only complete edition of stories by the undisputed master of detective literature, collected here for the first time in one volume, including some stories that have been unavailable for decades"

Raymond Chandler's Mystery Omnibus

Raymond Chandler

1944

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep and Farwell My Lovely.

The Raymond Chandler Omnibus

Raymond Chandler

1953

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake.

The Second Raymond Chandler Omnibus

Raymond Chandler

1962

An omnibus edition that brings together the novels The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, and Playback, plus the essay The Simple Art of Murder.

The Raymond Chandler Omnibus

Raymond Chandler

1964

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake.

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

1977

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Long Goodbye, Playback, and Farewell My Lovely.

The Raymond Chandler Omnibus

Raymond Chandler

1980

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake.

The Best Of Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

1985

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Long Goodbye, Playback, and Farewell My Lovely.

Four Complete Philip Marlowe Novels

Raymond Chandler

1986

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake.

The Big Sleep & Farewell, My Lovely

Raymond Chandler

1995

An omnibus edition that brings together The Big Sleep and Farwell My Lovely.

Stories and Early Novels

Raymond Chandler

1995

An omnibus edition that brings together 13 short stories that were originally published in pulp magazines and the three early novels The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, and The High Window.

Later Novels and Other Writings

Raymond Chandler

1995

An omnibus edition that brings together the three later novels The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, and Playback, plus the screenplay Double Indemnity and a number of essays and letters.

The Big Sleep and Other Novels

Raymond Chandler

2000

An omnibus edition that brings together the three novels The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, and The Long Goodbye.

The Lady In The Lake and Other Novels

Raymond Chandler

2001

An omnibus edition that brings together the three novels The Lady In The Lake, The High Window, and The Little Sister.

The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window

Raymond Chandler

2002

An omnibus edition that brings together the three early novels The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, and The High Window.

The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Long Goodbye / Playback

Raymond Chandler

2002

An omnibus edition that brings together the four novels The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, and Playback.

Raymond Chandler Speaking

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Dorothy Gardiner and Kathrine Sorley Walker

1962

A new edition published in 1997 has an introduction by Paul Skenazy and a new selected bibliography.

"Tough-minded and typically idiosyncratic, here is Chandler on Chandler, the mystery novel, writing, Hollywood, TV, publishing, cats, and famous crimes. This skillfully edited selection of letters, articles, and notes also includes the short story "A Couple of Writers" and the first chapters of Chandler's last Philip Marlowe novel, The Poodle Springs Story, left unfinished at his death."

Chandler Before Marlowe: Raymond Chandlers Early Prose and Poetry, 1908-1912

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Matthew J. Bruccoli

1973

"Poems, essays, and sketches exhibit the early literary styles and themes of the American author who popularized the detective story."

The Notebooks Of Raymond Chandler / English Summer: A Gothic Romance

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Frank MacShane

1976

"During a period of twenty years from the early 1930s, through the 1940s Raymond Chandler kept a series of private notebooks. Drawn from those journals, The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler offers an intimate view of the writer at work, revealing early ideas, descriptions, and anecdotes that would later be used in The Long Goodbye, The Blue Dahlia, and other classics. Filled with both public and private writings, The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler includes "Marlowesque" particulars such as pickpocket lingo, San Quentin jailhouse slang, a Note on the Tommygun, and musings on Craps. Here, too, are surprising, lesser known essays on Hollywood, the mystery story, British and American writing, and a wicked parody of Hemingway. This sampler--by turns whimsical, provocative, irreverent, and fascinating--also contains a list of possible story titles; Chandlerisms; and his short work English Summer: A Gothic Romance, which the writer viewed as a turning point in his career."

Selected Letters Of Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Frank MacShane

1981

"Brought together in this volume are some of the hundreds of letters Chandler wrote-many of them composed during long, insomniac nights. Chandler commented on all that he saw around him, from his own personal foibles, to the works of his contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and Edmund Wilson, to education, English society, and world events. Acute, sometimes impassioned, often witty, the Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler contains lively anecdotes of Hollywood, critical dissections of his fellow writers of detective fiction, lengthy discussions of the art of writing and of his own fiction, and, above all, amused, sometimes outraged glimpses of the Southern California society that was his inspiration."

The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction 1909-1959

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Tom Hiney and Frank MacShane

2001

"This selection of Chandler's letters, poetry and journalism features previously unseen material, including a lost interview with the American gangster, Lucky Luciano, conducted in a Naples hotel in 1957, as well as Chandler's classic account of attending the 1948 Oscars ceremony. Chandler's letter writing is already famous and THE RAYMOND CHANDLER PAPERS contains many newly discovered letters showing Chandler at his funniest, saddest, and most brilliant. This ultimate collection of Chandler's non-fiction also features a biographical commentary by his biographer, Tom Hiney."

Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go: Raymond Chandler's Knight

Philip Durham

1963

The Raymond Chandler Mystery Map of Los Angeles

Aaoron Blake

1970

Chandler Before Marlowe: Raymond Chandlers Early Prose and Poetry, 1908-1912

Raymond Chandler

Editor: Matthew J. Bruccoli

1973

"Poems, essays, and sketches exhibit the early literary styles and themes of the American author who popularized the detective story."

The Life Of Raymond Chandler

Frank MacShane

1976

"Draws upon Chandler's interviews and his correspondence with colleagues and lovers to recreate the world and illuminate the works of the novelist who gained fame as the creator of private detective Philip Marlowe."

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Raymond Chandler on Screen: His Novels into Film

Stephen Pendo

1976

The World Of Raymond Chandler

Editor: Miriam Gross

1977

Raymond Chandler

Jerry Speir

1981

"Examines each of Chandler's seven novels - including The Big Sleep and Farewell My Lovely - and his more than twenty short stories to reveal how Chandler's most prized creation - the character of Philip Marlowe - was introduced and developed."

Which Way Did He Go? The Private Eye in Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes and Ross MacDonald

Edward Margolies

1981

Raymond Chandler And Film

William Luhr

1982

A revised 2nd edition was published by Florida State University Press in 1991.

"Luhr explores Chandler's relation to the American film industry from three angles: his work in Hollywood in the 1940s and early 1950s; his controversial writings about the film industry; and feature films based upon his fiction, including a comparison of the different screen incarnations of Philip Marlow, from Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart to Elliot Gould and Robert Mitchum."

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Raymond Chandler In Hollywood

Al Clark

1982

"Raymond Chandler in Hollywood is an entertaining and comprehensive assessment of Chandler's turbulent association with Hollywood, both as a screenwriter whose credits included Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia and Strangers on a Train and as the provider of source material -- his six filmed novels have so far yielded ten movies. Illustrated with over 100 rare stills, this book provides a special insight into the work of the world's most acclaimed writer of detective fiction."

Chandlertown: The Los Angeles of Philip Marlowe

Edward Thorpe

1983

"Describes Los Angeles as it was during the forties and fifties and looks at locations used in Chandler's novels."

Hardboiled Burlesque: Raymond Chandler's Comic Style

Keith Newlin

Brownstone Books

1984

Reprinted by Borgo Press in 1985.

Something More Than Night: the Case of Raymond Chandler

Peter Wolfe

1985

"Peter Wolfe examines the many sides of Chandler and his work, his apparent will to self-destruct, his obsession with beautiful women, and his apparent brush with homosexuality and casts much new and needed light on this major American author."

The Hard-Boiled Explicator: A Guide to the Study of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald

Robert E. SKinner

1985

"During the past thirty years, that uniquely American artform known as the hard-boiled mystery novel has come under increasing scrutiny by critics, scholars, and students alike. Literally hundreds of articles and books have been devoted to the subject, particularly to its three major practitioners, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. Now, for the first time, those interested in this field have available to them a carefully constructed guide to the wealth of information on this subject. The Hard-Boiled Explicator will be of immense value to librarians, scholars, students, and mystery oficionados."

Raymond Chandler

William H. Marling

1986

Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles

A Photographic Odyssey Accompanied by Passages from Chandler's Greatest Works

Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver

1987

"Juxtaposing excerpts from Raymond Chandler’s best-loved novels and stories with stunning black and white photographs, this volume is a sumptuous tour of Los Angeles and its environs – sure to delight fans of Chandler’s work, film buffs, visitors and veterans of the city. The incomparable mystery writer portrayed Los Angeles with a style that was at once realistic, cynical and romantic. A city of looming monoliths, endless alleyways, outlying suburbs teeming with illegal activity, all linked by wide boulevards and miles of expressways, Los Angeles provided the endless physical and moral sprawl for Phillip Marlowe’s private peregrinations and investigations."

The Critical Response to Raymond Chandler

Editor: J.K. Van Dover

1995

"The essays and reviews in this volume trace the response to Chandler's work from 1944 to the present. These pieces treat various aspects of Chandler's art, such as his writing style, the nature of the hard-boiled detective hero, the relation of Chandler to his contemporaries, Los Angeles as the setting for his fiction, studies of individual novels, and analyses of films of Chandler's works. An introductory chapter provides a context for understanding Chandler as a writer, and the bibliography at the end of the volume demonstrates the growing amount of attention his novels are receiving."

The Australian Love Letters of Raymond Chandler

Editor: Alan Close

1995

"A blend of fiction and biography. It is the author's search for Deirdrie Gartrell who at the age of 17 began an intimate correspondence with the American crime writer Raymond Chandler during the 1950s. The 67 year old American was desperately lonely and had attempted suicide when he received letters from the girl who lived in rural NSW. During his search for Deirdrie and the letters, the author reappraises his own relationships, loyalties and obsessions."

Raymond Chandler: A Biography

Tom Hiney

1997

"For this major new biography, Tom Hiney has had some access to unseen personal papers, as well as previously unrecorded reminiscences by those who knew him well and he vividly evokes the strange early years, brings alive the dangerous glamour of the Hollywood era, and puts Chandler`s writing in the context of the crime and corruption in Prohibition LA. He gives illuminating details of friendships with Ian Fleming, Somerset Maugham, the Spenders, Alfred Hitchcock and fully records for the first time his relationship with Cissy, his wife of 30 years, 17 years his senior, and his paradoxical relations with other women."

Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir

Gene D. Phillips

2000

"Creatures of Darkness is the first major biocritical study of Chandler in twenty years. Gene Phillips explores Chandler's unpublished script for Lady in the Lake, examines the process of adaptation of the novel Strangers on a Train, discusses the merits of the unproduced screenplay for Playback, and compares Howard Hawks's director's cut of The Big Sleep with the version shown in theaters. Through interviews he conducted with Wilder, Hitchcock, Hawks, and Edward Dmytryk over the past several decades, Phillips provides deeper insight into Chandler's sometimes difficult personality. Chandler's wisecracking Marlowe has spawned a thousand imitations. Creatures of Darkness lucidly explains the author's dramatic impact on both the literary and cinematic worlds, demonstrating the immeasurable debt that both detective fiction and the neo-noir films of today owe to Chandler's stark vision."

A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler

Gene D. Phillips

2001

"This reference is a detailed guide to his writings. A chronology and brief biography overview the chief events in his life and career, with the biography discussing thematic patterns in his life and writings. The major section of the book, Chandler's World, describes the characters and places in his 7 novels and 25 short stories. Alphabetically arranged entries also provide summaries of his works, along with discussions of key topics. The entries are concise and informative and thus readily guide the reader through Chandler's complex universe. Appendices provide information about adaptations of his works, along with extensive listings of primary and secondary sources for additional consultation."

Raymond Chandler: A Documentary Volume

Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 253

Editor: Robert Moss

2001

Hardboiled Mystery Writers: Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Ross Macdonald: A Literary Reference

Editor: Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman

2002

"An illustrated guide to the mystery genre's hardest hitting writers focuses on the three men who created a uniquely American brand of detective fiction - Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald, the creators of such famed fictional private detectives as Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Lew Archer."

Raymond Chandler: A Literary Reference

Editor: Robert F. Moss

2003

"Amply illustrated with personal photographs and with reproductions of manuscript pages, letters, print ads, movie promotions, dust jackets, and paperback covers, this volume follows Chandler's career from his early pulp fiction to his classic detective novels."

The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved

Judith Freeman

2007

"In this compelling, wholly original book, Judith Freeman sets out to solve the puzzle of who Chandler was and how he became the writer who would create in Philip Marlowe an icon of American culture. Freeman uncovers vestiges of the Los Angeles that was terrain and inspiration for Chandler’s imagination, including the nearly two dozen apartments and houses the Chandlers moved into and out of over the course of two decades. She also uncovers the life of Cissy Pascal, the older, twice-divorced woman Chandler married in 1924, who would play an essential role in how he came to understand not only his female characters–and Marlowe’s relation to them–but himself as well. A revelation of a marriage that was a wellspring of need, illusion, and creativity, The Long Embrace provides us with a more complete picture of Raymond Chandler’s life and art than any we have had before."

Characters and Plots in the Fiction of Raymond Chandler

Robert L. Gale

2010

"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."

Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: The Hard-Boiled Detective Transformed

John Paul Athanasourelis

2011

"This historical and critical text surveys early and mid-20th century American detective novels, particularly those by John Carroll Daly, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald, and Raymond Chandler. The book focuses on Raymond Chandler's creation of Philip Marlowe, a detective whose feeling for community and willingness to compromise radically changed the genre's vigilantism and violence. British detective fiction is also analyzed in order to highlight the unique qualities of the American genre."

A Mysterious Something in the Light: Raymond Chandler: A Life

Tom Williams

2012

"What we know of Raymond Chandler is shrouded in secrets and half-truths as deceptive as anything in his magisterial novel The Long Goodbye. Now, drawing on new interviews, previously unpublished letters and archives on both sides of the Atlantic, literary gumshoe Tom Williams casts light on this most mysterious of writers. The Chandler revealed is a man troubled by loneliness and desertion from an early age – experiences that fuelled his writing as much as they scarred his life."

The Metaphysics of Detective Marlowe Style, Vision, Hard-Boiled Repartee, Thugs, and Death-Dealing Damsels in Raymond Chandler's Novels

Mircea Mihales

2013

"Mircea Mihaies reexamines the major contradiction of Chandler's hero: though in the service of truth, he is often forced to realize that truth is sordid, repulsive, malicious, aggressive, and rapacious. Out of this baffling position, a new American genre and type of hero have emerged."

The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words

Editor: Barry Day

2014

"Acclaimed biographer and historian Barry Day deftly interweaves images and text, using quotations from Chandler's novels, short stories, letters, and interviews, to craft a unique portrait of the mystery writer s life and times."

Raymond Chandler

Anthony Fowles

2014

"Author Anthony Fowles - who freely admits to writing half-adozen 'sub-Chandlerian' thrillers - brings to the discussion both the detached eye of the professional critic and the sympathetic understanding of the practitioner. It is a background which allows Fowles to make a balanced, finely-nuanced contribution to the ongoing Chandler debate, refusing to relegate the noir master to the wilderness of 'genre writer' but equally avoiding outlandish claims of literary pre-eminence. In circumventing the pitfalls and simplicities of 'either/or', Fowles places Chandler's achievements in a fully-realised context, enabling the reader to appreciate more deeply the peculiar strengths and limitations of the prose lyricist of the American mid-century."

The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles

Kim Cooper / Paul Rogers

2014

"This is a guide to the world of Raymond Chandler and his noble alter-ego, the private detective Philip Marlowe. It mixes locations from the books, the films and Chandler's personal life. There's the crummy dive where Moose Malloy went looking for Velma; the actual lounge where Marlowe and Terry Lennox ordered gimlets; the top-floor suite where oil executive Chandler got his priceless education in how a dirty, sun-drenched city really operated. This is the Los Angeles that Raymond Chandler carried in his heart. And now, you can too."

The Novels of Raymond Chandler: A Short Guide

Tom Williams

2014

Probably only published electronically.

"Taking inspiration from novels such as The Big Sleep, The High Window and The Lady in the Lake Tom presents an introduction to Chandler's novels and explores, examines and celebrates why Chandler is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century."

Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality

Frederic Jameson

2016

"Fredric Jameson offers an interpretation of Chandler's work that reconstructs both the context in which it was written and the social world or totality it projects. Chandler's invariable setting, Los Angeles, appears both as a microcosm of the United States and a prefiguration of its future: a megalopolis uniquely distributed by an unpromising nature into a variety of distinct neighborhoods and private worlds. But this essentially urban and spatial work seems also to be drawn towards a vacuum, an absence that is nothing other than death. With Chandler, the thriller genre becomes metaphysical."

War Noir: Raymond Chandler and the Hard-Boiled Detective as Veteran in American Fiction

Sarah Trott

2016

"The conflation of the hard-boiled style and war experience has influenced many contemporary crime writers, particularly in the traumatic aftermath of the Vietnam War. Yet, earlier writers in the genre, such as Raymond Chandler, remain overlooked when it comes to examining how their war experience affected their writing. Sarah Trott corrects this oversight by examining Chandler alongside the World War I writers of the Lost Generation as well as highlighting a melding of very different styles in Chandler's work."

The Annotated Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler

Annotated and edited by: Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Dean Rizzuto

Bantam Books

2018

"This comprehensive annotated edition offers a fascinating look behind the scenes of the novel, bringing the gritty and seductive world of Chandler's iconic private eye Philip Marlowe into full color. Notes on the historical context of Chandler's Los Angeles; excerpts from the author's personal letters and source texts; explorations of the issues of gender, sexuality, and race that permeate the story; and important interpretations and clarifications enrich the reader's understanding and situate the novel within the tradition of crime fiction that Chandler both built upon and made new."