It’s honestly a pretty draining prospect to read 26 Raymond Chandler stories. Here’s why: he was so remarkably consistent that the stories are thorough, thoughtful, a little repetitive–along a few common paths–, and they are long. Each of these stories is between about 45-60 pages (using Everyman Library pages at that), and so the grand total of 26 of his stories is about 1300 pages. And so I have been working on these a lot. If there were more variety, I would be more excited […]
A Nice, Relaxing Lakehouse Getaway…Just Kidding!
The Lady in the Lake, Chandler’s fourth Philip Marlowe novel, gets the private eye out of 1940s Los Angeles and into the California countryside. You would think the hard-boiled detective is just looking for a little TLC after all the murders and blackjacks to the skull, but that’s not his style. Just look at the title! Trouble seems to follow Marlowe like a hangover fart. This is a different kind of Marlowe novel, in my opinion. The previous books featured a more sardonic, cosmopolitan, up-for-anything […]
Marlowe Sassily Fights Crime in Nighttime LA Again
If you look through my previous Raymond Chandler reviews, you’ll see that I’m a massive fan of Chandler and his famous Los Angeles private eye, Philip Marlowe. The setting, the sassy dialogue, the day drinking at work – it’s all awesome. Unfortunately, while it is still enjoyable, this third book in the Marlowe series is the least-memorable of the series. In this story, Marlowe is hired by a cantankerous battle-axe of a wealthy old matriarch to find a missing rare coin. She’s the perfect client […]
“I looked at the gun and the gun looked at me.”
To kick off my CBR 9 reviews, a few opening remarks: This is my third year participating in CBR. I love it and the community around it. I’m glad to help raise money for ACS to fight cancer, and I strongly encourage everyone to visit this site and click through to Amazon from the links. My ratings system is pretty simple. Five stars means I love the book and give copies to people to evangelize how good it is. Three stars means I liked it […]