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.
When Raymond Chandler turned to writing at the age of forty-five, he began by publishing stories in pulp magazines such as Black Mask before later writing his famous novels. These stories are where Chandler honed his art and developed his uniquely vivid underworld, peopled with good cops and bad cops, informers and extortionists, lethally predatory blondes and redheads, and crime, sex, gambling, and alcohol in abundance. In addition to his classic hard-boiled stories-in which his signature atmosphere of depravity and violence swirls around the cool, intuitive loners whose type culminated in the famous detective Philip Marlowe-Chandler also turned his hand to fantasy and even a gothic romance.
This rich treasury of twenty-five stories shows Chandler developing the terse, laconic, understated style that would serve him so well in his later masterpieces, and immerses the reader in the richly realized fictional universe that has become an enduring part of our literary landscape
The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978.
The story is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing each other and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a rumination in the book about sleeping the big sleep.
Chandler writes] like a slumming angel and invest s] the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence. --Ross MacDonald
Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement. --The New York Times
When private detective Philip Marlowe's latest client, Orfamay Quest, hires him to find her missing brother for the paltry sum of twenty dollars, Marlowe discovers that it's far from a simple missing persons case. Not when it involves mobsters, blackmail, beautiful women . . . and murders.
Raymond Chandler's vintage Hollywood thriller The Little Sister was first published in 1949. Now Philip Marlowe comes to life in a first-ever, full-color graphic adapation of this classic noir detective story.
Raymond Chandler's first Philip Marlowe novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. It was followed by Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window; The Lady in the Lake; The Little Sister; The Long Goodbye; and Playback. Chandler died in California in 1959.
Michael Lark, the illustrator for theis volume of The Little Sister, first gained notice for his Airwaves and Taken Under comic book series. His most recent collaboration has been with Dean Motter on Terminal City, a critically acclaimed limited series for DC's Vertigo Comics imprint.
More than just an impressive homage, this is a first-rate detective novel with all of the suspense, action, and human drama that we have come to expect from the best.--Playboy
Philip Marlowe is alive and well and living in Poodle Springs, California. He's married to a wealthy heiress now. But living in the lap of luxury hasn't made a dent in Marlowe's cynicism--or his talent for attracting trouble. Soon he's on a trail of greed, lust, and murder as dark and cunning as any he's ever seen. Philip Marlowe is back in business.
Raymond Chandler fans, throw away your dog-eared copies of The Big Sleep...Philip Marlowe has returned!--Milwaukee Journal
Elegantly designed and packaged in a mix of full color and black and white comics, this trio of graphic novels includes Chandler's classic final Marlowe adventure, The Pencil, adapted from the Raymond Chandler story by award-winning mystery novelist Jerome Charyn and Marvel/DC comics illustrator David Lloyd; Goldfish, adapted by top British designer Ryan Hughes and Trouble is My Business illustrated by Lee Moyer, Alfredo Alcala in a style reminiscent of 30s illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. None of this work has ever been published before and represents the first adaptations of these Chandler stories into comics.
In this series of stories, we not only present Chandler's characters to a new generation, but to a new medium as well. There have been several portrayals of Marlowe in films over the years: Bogart, Powell, Mitchum, and others. And now we'll see some new interpretations of him. Each stylistically different, but all unmistakably Marlowe.