Books by Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was a British-American author, best known for writing a series of hard-boiled detective novels featuring a private investigator called Philip Marlowe.
“It always seemed to me to be the most unheralded of Chandler’s books. It’s brilliant. It does all the things that Chandler’s known for, but it’s much shorter than these other books; it’s a far more condensed mystery. And every other page there’s a twist. It might be the best plotting of all his mysteries.” Read more...
Stuart Turton, Novelist
“Chandler is the daddy of Noir. When I was first thinking about writing crime, I decided to go back and read the classics that I hadn’t read already. The tone reminded me a lot of those old movies, and it helped get me a sense of the aesthetic of my own writing of that period. I have American characters in both of my last two books. I was trying to figure out how to write their dialogue. And I think that Chandler’s dialogue is really good—you can hear it just as it might be spoken.” Read more...
Louise Hare, Novelist
“It’s a great read filled with crackerjack characters. Chandler captures the racism, class stratification and general Los Angeles phony baloney” Read more...
Dennis McDougal, Journalist
“Raymond Chandler is one of the godfathers of noir, and Philip Marlowe is probably the most quintessential character. I love it when books really capture a setting and The Long Goodbye does that in spades. Everyone is drinking at all times. They wake up with a hangover and immediately smoke a cigarette. Something about that is very romantic to me, even though I don’t smoke—it captures another era, a certain time period in Los Angeles, post-World War II, where the city hasn’t been fully built yet and it’s rapidly changing.” Read more...
Simon Hawkins, Film Director
Interviews where books by Raymond Chandler were recommended
The Best Noir Novels, recommended by Simon Hawkins
Noir is as much an aesthetic as it is a genre of book or movie, explains the film director Simon Hawkins; and though it might be set anywhere, Los Angeles is its spiritual home. Here, he recommends five of the best noir novels—each defined by their strong settings, seedy atmospheres and suspenseful plotting.
Lynda La Plante recommends the best Crime Novels
The writer of the hugely successful Prime Suspect television series, Lynda La Plante, selects her own favourite crime novels. We haven’t completed the interview with her yet, but her brief email comments appear beside her choices.
The best books on Los Angeles, recommended by Dennis McDougal
The writer dubbed “LA’s number one muckraker” peels away the phoney baloney to tell us about power, pollution and pulp fiction in the City of Angels.
The Best 1930s Mysteries, recommended by Louise Hare
Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler were among the leading lights of a ‘golden age’ of detective fiction in the 1930s. It’s also a period that contemporary writers like to revisit as a setting for their own books. Louise Hare—author of the evocative historical crime novel Harlem After Midnight—recommends five of the best 1930s mysteries.
The Best Mystery Books, recommended by David Baldacci
The best mystery books are completely unputdownable and addictive, the entertainment they provide more portable than watching TV and so much more satisfying than looking at your phone. Bestselling author David Baldacci, one of the masters of the genre and a passionate advocate for literacy and reading, talks us through some of the best mystery books ever written—as well as the contemporary authors he most admires.
The Best Whodunnits, recommended by Simon Brett
When it comes to whodunnits, the latest ones aren’t always the best. Veteran crime writer Simon Brett talks us through some of his all-time favourites, of which the most recent was published nearly four decades ago.
The Best Murder Mystery Books, recommended by Stuart Turton
The best murder mysteries set up their stories like a game between the reader and the writer, says Stuart Turton, bestselling author and lifelong mystery fan. Here he highlights five of his favourites, in which detectives make miraculous deductions, or doggedly chase clues until they meet with satisfying solutions.
The Best 20th-Century Short Stories, recommended by Etgar Keret
The short story form allows for instinctiveness in a way that novels don’t, says Israeli writer Etgar Keret, whose stories have won a number of awards and been translated into dozens of languages. He talks us through some of his favourite short story collections of the 20th century (in English).
