Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Gardners Books (1989), Paperback
Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML:Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's fifth novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times). In noir master Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister, a movie starlet with a gangster boyfriend and a pair of siblings with a shared secret lure private eye Philip Marlowe into the less than glamorous and more than a little dangerous world of Hollywood fame. Chandler's first foray into the industry that dominates the company town that is Los Angeles.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
My favorite Chandler. Have read it at least 1/2 dozen times complete, but often pick it up, turn to a page and read a delicious Marlowe vignette. The plot is perfectly tight. The action is relentless. The characters fairly leap off the page as does the atmosphere. No one can be trusted. Marlowe is
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jaded and beat up by the world. His cynicism is bone deep and the sarcastic one liners just keep coming. Over the years his relationship with the cops and with women has not improved. But he keeps trying. This is as good as it gets. Love it. Show Less
LibraryThing member mrtall
Raymond Chandler reached the full expression of his electric style in this late Philip Marlowe novel. It's almost non-stop crackling dialog, compressed action, and 'throwaway' lines that reveal vistas. But it would take a better man than me to tell you who killed whom with what -- Chandler's
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elliptical and allusive plot movements are the very best when you can pick them up, but here they left me scratching my head. Never the less, you can't go wrong reading Chandler. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz
Chandler is one of my favourite authors and his tough talking Philip Marlowe is classic. But then that has all been said before.
A plain Jane comes into his office and wants to hire him to find her brother for $20. She thinks he has gotten himself into trouble and she has come out from Manhattan,
This simple case is not so simple. Murder and Mayhem are partners in this mystery along with Twist and Turn. An actress on the edge of stardom, a Spanish spitfire, a big shot Hollywood agent and a mobster from Cleveland are just some of the characters in the cast. Are they what they really seem? It is Hollywood, after all...
A plain Jane comes into his office and wants to hire him to find her brother for $20. She thinks he has gotten himself into trouble and she has come out from Manhattan,
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Kansas to find out.This simple case is not so simple. Murder and Mayhem are partners in this mystery along with Twist and Turn. An actress on the edge of stardom, a Spanish spitfire, a big shot Hollywood agent and a mobster from Cleveland are just some of the characters in the cast. Are they what they really seem? It is Hollywood, after all...
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LibraryThing member Joycepa
I fully recognize the importance of Raymond Chandler in the mystery genre. Philip Marlowe was, at that time, a breakthrough creation.
That said, I find I can not get past the dated writing (the 40s slang is meaningless to me), the stereotypes, and above all, the attitude towards women. Marlowe has
Yet Chandler could write. There are gems such as:
“Her voice faded off into a sort of sad whisper, like a mortician asking for a down payment.”
and
“The dull, ready-made clothes, worn without style, with a sort of contempt; the look of men who are poor and yet proud of their power, watching always for ways to make it felt, to shove it into you and twist it and grin and watch you squirm, ruthless without malice, cruel and yet not always unkind.”
That’s excellent writing. But for me, there’s not enough of it to overcome the problems with being mired in a particular time and place, and Marlowe’s world-weariness, which gets annoying. You just want to shake him and yell, “Get a grip, man.”
For fans of Chandler.
That said, I find I can not get past the dated writing (the 40s slang is meaningless to me), the stereotypes, and above all, the attitude towards women. Marlowe has
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but to walk into a room, and any woman there--whether from Manhattan, Kansas or Hollywood--immediately swoons into his arms and begs to be hauled off to bed at a minimum or else attacks him in her sexual frenzy. With, as far as I can tell from the text, no real reason to do so. By the middle of the (short) book, it was mildly offensive and, much worse, utterly boring.Yet Chandler could write. There are gems such as:
“Her voice faded off into a sort of sad whisper, like a mortician asking for a down payment.”
and
“The dull, ready-made clothes, worn without style, with a sort of contempt; the look of men who are poor and yet proud of their power, watching always for ways to make it felt, to shove it into you and twist it and grin and watch you squirm, ruthless without malice, cruel and yet not always unkind.”
That’s excellent writing. But for me, there’s not enough of it to overcome the problems with being mired in a particular time and place, and Marlowe’s world-weariness, which gets annoying. You just want to shake him and yell, “Get a grip, man.”
For fans of Chandler.
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LibraryThing member btuckertx
Raymond Chandler makes it easy to walk the dark streets of Bay City with Philip Marlowe. You believe there is a man who will always take care of the dirty work for you, comb the dives and flop houses for whoever or whatever you need. A man paid at forty bucks a day plus expenses, but a man of
In The Little Sister, Marlowe admits to himself that he's lonely, aging, and possibly tired of sleuthing, but even with these caveats the story falls short of the bar set by earlier Marlowe works, The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window and The Lady in the Lake. The characters here are thinly drawn, the plot weak and the ending disappointing.
Unless you're determined to finish the Marlowe series, stick with the earlier books. Buy them, put them on your shelves, they're the kind of books you'll read again and again and enjoy every single time. The Little Sister? Check it out of the library.
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ethics all the same.In The Little Sister, Marlowe admits to himself that he's lonely, aging, and possibly tired of sleuthing, but even with these caveats the story falls short of the bar set by earlier Marlowe works, The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window and The Lady in the Lake. The characters here are thinly drawn, the plot weak and the ending disappointing.
Unless you're determined to finish the Marlowe series, stick with the earlier books. Buy them, put them on your shelves, they're the kind of books you'll read again and again and enjoy every single time. The Little Sister? Check it out of the library.
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LibraryThing member WillyMammoth
In Raymond Chandler's fourth Philip Marlowe novel, the P.I. is approached by an up-tight girl from Kansas or Missouri or some other God-forsaken place in the Midwest. She asks him to find her brother, offering a measly double sawbuck (that’s $20 in layman’s terms) for the work. For some reason
I won’t go into any further details, as that might ruin the surprise for anyone thinking about reading the book. I will say, however, that the plot, the characters, and Chandler’s great language do not fail to disappoint. And did I mention that Chandler is my favorite author in, like, ever? Yeah, so that might have influenced my assessment. You'll have to read it for yourselves to be sure.
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Marlowe takes the case, even though something seems fishy about the girl from the get-go. His investigation initially takes him to a low-rent slum. Following the scent, it eventually leads to another slum—though, much higher rent: Hollywood, where Marlowe rubs elbows with the Hollywood elite as he attempts to locate the titular sister's older brother.I won’t go into any further details, as that might ruin the surprise for anyone thinking about reading the book. I will say, however, that the plot, the characters, and Chandler’s great language do not fail to disappoint. And did I mention that Chandler is my favorite author in, like, ever? Yeah, so that might have influenced my assessment. You'll have to read it for yourselves to be sure.
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LibraryThing member alexrichman
They all take place in Hollywood, but this Marlowe mystery actually involves starlets and studios. There are a few great set-pieces involving agents and executives, and while the actresses aren't quite as involving it's still, you know, Chandler.
LibraryThing member rose_p
The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister - I got hooked into the Big Sleep right at the end of March, then lashed out in Waterstones to buy a three-in-one compendium and whomped my way through it in a weekend. They aren't works of literary genius, but they are well-plotted and
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stylish who/why dunnits. And though I can't do accents in real life, inside my head I was reading in an American drawl, with pictures in stylish black-and-white and a sleazy sax in the background. I thought I'd grown out of detectives/crime but these are thoroughly good reads and I'd recommend them to anyone. Show Less
LibraryThing member Traveller1
After reading and browsing through all of the previous posts about this novel I am not sure that I can add anything new or useful, however, I will try.
This is not the strongest or the best Marlowe, however, as with its brethren, it is not so much the story, but the dialogue and the setting.
Every Marlowe story is like this. There is a complex detective mystery, never resolved until the final pages, but this is not the story. The story is about Marlowe and the dark and gritty world in which he makes his living.
I would recommend that anyone who has not read this story do so, but don't make this your first Marlowe. Happy reading.
This is not the strongest or the best Marlowe, however, as with its brethren, it is not so much the story, but the dialogue and the setting.
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Marlowe's witty ("crack wise") views on life, and his surrounds, plus the colourful (I believe that is the term) characters that he meets, and interacts with, make this again a humorous dark read. Every Marlowe story is like this. There is a complex detective mystery, never resolved until the final pages, but this is not the story. The story is about Marlowe and the dark and gritty world in which he makes his living.
I would recommend that anyone who has not read this story do so, but don't make this your first Marlowe. Happy reading.
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LibraryThing member JeffreyMarks
Not Chandler's best work. This is a PI novel where everyone dies, so you can just read along until 1 person is left standing. A sort of "And Then There Was One." Even so, great Chandler dialogue and language.
LibraryThing member ablueidol
The style ripples in my head and would love to tell a celtic folk story in that style. Oh and a brilliant read
LibraryThing member Magadri
This book was, without a doubt, beautifully written. However, the plot accelerated so quickly with so many twists and turns that I STILL don't even know what happened. I eventually gave up on trying to follow the plot and just sat back and enjoyed Chandler's wonderful writing style-- he has some of
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the craziest, most poetic similes I've ever read. Show Less
LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
Who writes like this? "It's a reasonably shabby door at the end of a reasonably shabby corridor in the sort of building that was new about the year the all-tile bathroom became the basis of civilization." OR "Mom is in front of her princess dresser trying to paint the suitcases out from under her
I loved every second of this book. I'll admit the plot and characters are a little muddled, but who cares with writing like this. I could go on and on citing examples of his prose that I think are fantastic.
Briefly, Orfamay Quest (what a name-Orfamay) picks Marlowe's name out of the phone book for so many irrelevant reasons. She has come from Manhattan, Kansas that is, in search of her brother, Orrin, who has not written home in weeks. She can only pay Marlowe $20, but he accepts the challenge, against his better judgment. This simple search ends with several murders, incriminating photos, and conniving damsels appearing to be in distress.
Chandler paints a picture like no other author, be it a picture of a location or a person or a situation. We use the word 'riveting' so often, but in this case that is the only way to describe his writing. You need to read his books slowly to savor every word but you can't because you need to find out what happens.
Another thrill of reading this book was the book itself. I got the original 1950 Pocket Book paperback version with the above cover art. The paper was thin and fragile. The page edges were red. The spine was in great shape so I didn't want to bend the book too much. I needed to preserve its condition. I carried it around in a small envelope so that it wouldn't get crushed in my messenger bag. Call me Crazy. But that, too, is the fun of reading some books.
You probably know I'm a fan of mysteries from the 1920s through 50s and The Little Sister is a prime example of this genre. And the cover art is just great, as well.
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eyes." OR "Beyond the swing door is a dark dining room with an open end to a glassed-in lounge into which the moonlight poured like water through the floodgates of a dam." Raymond Chandler, that's who, in I'm assuming one of his lesser known Philip Marlowe books, The Little Sister.I loved every second of this book. I'll admit the plot and characters are a little muddled, but who cares with writing like this. I could go on and on citing examples of his prose that I think are fantastic.
Briefly, Orfamay Quest (what a name-Orfamay) picks Marlowe's name out of the phone book for so many irrelevant reasons. She has come from Manhattan, Kansas that is, in search of her brother, Orrin, who has not written home in weeks. She can only pay Marlowe $20, but he accepts the challenge, against his better judgment. This simple search ends with several murders, incriminating photos, and conniving damsels appearing to be in distress.
Chandler paints a picture like no other author, be it a picture of a location or a person or a situation. We use the word 'riveting' so often, but in this case that is the only way to describe his writing. You need to read his books slowly to savor every word but you can't because you need to find out what happens.
Another thrill of reading this book was the book itself. I got the original 1950 Pocket Book paperback version with the above cover art. The paper was thin and fragile. The page edges were red. The spine was in great shape so I didn't want to bend the book too much. I needed to preserve its condition. I carried it around in a small envelope so that it wouldn't get crushed in my messenger bag. Call me Crazy. But that, too, is the fun of reading some books.
You probably know I'm a fan of mysteries from the 1920s through 50s and The Little Sister is a prime example of this genre. And the cover art is just great, as well.
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LibraryThing member Anome
Chandler at his best. My favourite of the Marlowe novels, possibly because the complete corruption of the characters around him allows Chandler to give Marlowe some of the greatest dialogue he's written. (When you consider the strength of Chandler's dialogue, that's saying something.)
Since reading
Since reading
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this, I've never trusted any woman from Manhattan, Kansas. Show Less
LibraryThing member weird_O
Discovering that a favorite now-dead author wrote a novel you didn't know of is exciting. To find out, by reading it, that it's one of the author's best is thrilling. It happened to me. Scanning the bookshelves at a Goodwill store, I found a copy of Raymond Chandler's [The Little Sister]. New to
The Little Sister has all the Chandler hallmarks: Philip Marlowe; snappy dialogue; hostile cops; a spectrum of hoods, chiselers, toughs, and gangsters; innocent and/or seductive women; a murder, then another. And another. Add a loon or two, several lunkheads, a whack to the head. Shake or stir (your preference) until noir.
The story begins with a telephone call to Marlowe's office, where he is killing time stalking a fly.
"Is this Mr. Marlowe, the detective?" It was a small, rather hurried, little-girlish voice. I said it was Mr. Marlowe, the detective. "How much do you charge for your services, Mr. Marlowe?"
"What was it you wanted done?"
The voice sharpened a little. "I can't very well tell you that over the phone. It's—it's very confidential. Before I'd waste time coming to your office I'd have to have some idea—"
"Forty bucks a day and expenses. Unless it's the kind of job that can be done for a flat fee."
"That's far too much," the little voice said. "Why, it might cost hundreds of dollars and I only get a small salary and—"
"Where are you now?"
"Why, I'm in a drugstore. It's right next to the building where your office is."
"You could have saved a nickel. The elevator's free."
More back-and-forth, with the caller expressing her concerns without sharing any personal information or anything about the detecting she wants done. When she says, "You might at least talk like a gentleman," Marlowe hangs up. "It was a step in the right direction," he tells us, "but it didn't go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hid under the desk."
Within minutes, the caller comes through the unlocked office door and faces Marlowe. She's Orfamay Quest of Manhattan, Kansas, a dowdy young woman who wants Marlowe to locate her older brother, Orrin. He left Kansas for a job one of the area's aircraft businesses. She has an address—a shabby rooming house in a seedy neighborhood—but he's not there. She knows nothing else. Or so she tells Marlowe. She won't say where she is staying, she won't provide a telephone number where he can contact her. She neglects to mention a sister who is in town. Or her sister's friends.
A trip to the rooming house doesn't yield Orrin or a forwarding address. A tough in the kitchen gives Marlowe trouble, as does the drunken manager, as does—initially anyway—a man who is in the process of vacating the room Orrin had stayed it. On his way out, Marlowe stops to question the manager, but finds him out cold. On his way back to the office, he stops at a telephone booth and calls the Police Department.
"Bay City Police. Moot talking," a furry voice said.
I said: "Number 449 Idaho Street. In the apartment of the manager. His name's Clausen."
"Yeah?" The voice said. "What do we do?"
"I don't know," I said. "It's a bit of a puzzle to me. But the man's name is Lester B. Clausen. Got that?"
"What makes it important?" the furry voice said without suspicion.
"The coroner will want to know," I said, and hung up.
Yes. It is like that, all the way to the end.
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me...and I was so sure I had copies of ALL his novels. A happy find.The Little Sister has all the Chandler hallmarks: Philip Marlowe; snappy dialogue; hostile cops; a spectrum of hoods, chiselers, toughs, and gangsters; innocent and/or seductive women; a murder, then another. And another. Add a loon or two, several lunkheads, a whack to the head. Shake or stir (your preference) until noir.
The story begins with a telephone call to Marlowe's office, where he is killing time stalking a fly.
"Is this Mr. Marlowe, the detective?" It was a small, rather hurried, little-girlish voice. I said it was Mr. Marlowe, the detective. "How much do you charge for your services, Mr. Marlowe?"
"What was it you wanted done?"
The voice sharpened a little. "I can't very well tell you that over the phone. It's—it's very confidential. Before I'd waste time coming to your office I'd have to have some idea—"
"Forty bucks a day and expenses. Unless it's the kind of job that can be done for a flat fee."
"That's far too much," the little voice said. "Why, it might cost hundreds of dollars and I only get a small salary and—"
"Where are you now?"
"Why, I'm in a drugstore. It's right next to the building where your office is."
"You could have saved a nickel. The elevator's free."
More back-and-forth, with the caller expressing her concerns without sharing any personal information or anything about the detecting she wants done. When she says, "You might at least talk like a gentleman," Marlowe hangs up. "It was a step in the right direction," he tells us, "but it didn't go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hid under the desk."
Within minutes, the caller comes through the unlocked office door and faces Marlowe. She's Orfamay Quest of Manhattan, Kansas, a dowdy young woman who wants Marlowe to locate her older brother, Orrin. He left Kansas for a job one of the area's aircraft businesses. She has an address—a shabby rooming house in a seedy neighborhood—but he's not there. She knows nothing else. Or so she tells Marlowe. She won't say where she is staying, she won't provide a telephone number where he can contact her. She neglects to mention a sister who is in town. Or her sister's friends.
A trip to the rooming house doesn't yield Orrin or a forwarding address. A tough in the kitchen gives Marlowe trouble, as does the drunken manager, as does—initially anyway—a man who is in the process of vacating the room Orrin had stayed it. On his way out, Marlowe stops to question the manager, but finds him out cold. On his way back to the office, he stops at a telephone booth and calls the Police Department.
"Bay City Police. Moot talking," a furry voice said.
I said: "Number 449 Idaho Street. In the apartment of the manager. His name's Clausen."
"Yeah?" The voice said. "What do we do?"
"I don't know," I said. "It's a bit of a puzzle to me. But the man's name is Lester B. Clausen. Got that?"
"What makes it important?" the furry voice said without suspicion.
"The coroner will want to know," I said, and hung up.
Yes. It is like that, all the way to the end.
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LibraryThing member songx
London: Hamilton Hamish, 1969. First thus. Hardcover with dust jacket. Part of the Fingerprint series of reprints. Signed by Helga Greene on the front free end paper. Helga Greene was Raymond chandler's literary agent and fiance towards the end of Chandler's life. When Chandler died in 1959 she was
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the executrix and heir of Chandler's estate. Show Less
LibraryThing member carolynsuarez
love these "oldie" private detective stories.
LibraryThing member DCarlin
This looked like a good story (crime, thriller) and it was a good audio book. Narrator was clear although some character voices were similar at times. What I did not realise was that it is an old book. Set in days when a packet of cigarettes cost 'a quarter', a phone call a 'nickel', a private
All this aside it was worth listening to and I would like to read/listen to more of Raymond Chandler's novels when the occasion arises.
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investigators worked for $40 a day plus expenses and an actor was well paid earning somewhere between $15,000 and $35,000 per movie. Wikipedia has just dated it as a 1949 novel.All this aside it was worth listening to and I would like to read/listen to more of Raymond Chandler's novels when the occasion arises.
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: A young lady from Kansas shows up on Marlowe's door and offers him $20 to find her brother. He takes the job and immediately is plunged into murder, blackmail, and drugs. He comes close to getting his license revoked and to losing his life.
Review: This is classic noir and with complicated
Review: This is classic noir and with complicated
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interactions. You have to pay close attention to know who is talking to whom and what is actually happening. I didn't find any of the characters sympathetic. Show Less
LibraryThing member SimoneSimone
Hooked me young. Forever hooked.
LibraryThing member Borrows-N-Wants
This book was, without a doubt, beautifully written. However, the plot accelerated so quickly with so many twists and turns that I STILL don't even know what happened. I eventually gave up on trying to follow the plot and just sat back and enjoyed Chandler's wonderful writing style-- he has some of
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the craziest, most poetic similes I've ever read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Jonathan_M
My least favorite Raymond Chandler novel, and the one which Chandler himself conceded was the weakest: "It's the only book of mine I have actively disliked. It was written in a bad mood and I think that comes through." (See Frank MacShane, The Life of Raymond Chandler.) He was right. The lone
"You would not waste your time [making love to me]," Dolores Gonzales snipes at Philip Marlowe. "I am not one of these synthetic blondes with a skin you could strike matches on. These ex-laundresses with large bony hands and sharp knees and unsuccessful breasts."
"Just for half an hour, let's leave sex to the side," Marlowe snipes right back. "It's great stuff, like chocolate sundaes. But there comes a time you would rather cut your throat. I guess maybe I'd better cut mine."
That's not the way people actually talk to each other, of course, and it doesn't even sound like two distinct characters: just a great writer with his mind on something else, phoning in the dialogue to meet a deadline. And there's a lot of this tiresome, clunky, very unwitty stuff in the book. It makes up the entirety of Marlowe's interaction with several profoundly unpleasant female characters, in fact. Early on there's a flawless scene in which Marlowe's investigation takes him to a shabby Bay City rooming house, and it's sure to kindle fond (if fleeting) memories for anyone who has experienced the magic of Chandler's other novels...but after that, The Little Sister falls into a slump from which it never quite recovers despite the usual plethora of murders and opaque plot twists. Marlowe's ethical position is uncharacteristically muddy here, too; more than once he cites his obligation to his clients, but what he owed to any of the awful people in this story (and why) frankly eluded me.
This is a tough book to like, but I'm a big Chandler fan. My rating may be overly generous.
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observation I can add is that when Chandler alluded to going off "on a tangent, playing with the wisecrack and the witty remark," what he meant is that there was only enough material for half a book, so he found it necessary to pad The Little Sister with one weary quip after another to stretch it to full length. And, as in the self-caricaturing worst of Hemingway and Rod Serling, all those quips are delivered in the same prickly, implausible voice:"You would not waste your time [making love to me]," Dolores Gonzales snipes at Philip Marlowe. "I am not one of these synthetic blondes with a skin you could strike matches on. These ex-laundresses with large bony hands and sharp knees and unsuccessful breasts."
"Just for half an hour, let's leave sex to the side," Marlowe snipes right back. "It's great stuff, like chocolate sundaes. But there comes a time you would rather cut your throat. I guess maybe I'd better cut mine."
That's not the way people actually talk to each other, of course, and it doesn't even sound like two distinct characters: just a great writer with his mind on something else, phoning in the dialogue to meet a deadline. And there's a lot of this tiresome, clunky, very unwitty stuff in the book. It makes up the entirety of Marlowe's interaction with several profoundly unpleasant female characters, in fact. Early on there's a flawless scene in which Marlowe's investigation takes him to a shabby Bay City rooming house, and it's sure to kindle fond (if fleeting) memories for anyone who has experienced the magic of Chandler's other novels...but after that, The Little Sister falls into a slump from which it never quite recovers despite the usual plethora of murders and opaque plot twists. Marlowe's ethical position is uncharacteristically muddy here, too; more than once he cites his obligation to his clients, but what he owed to any of the awful people in this story (and why) frankly eluded me.
This is a tough book to like, but I'm a big Chandler fan. My rating may be overly generous.
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LibraryThing member SigmundFraud
THE LITTLE SISTER by Raymond Chandler is the first book of his I have read despite my good intentions to undertake his more popular works like THE BIG SLEEP. THE LITTLE SISTER is not considered among his best works but it is a good read nonetheless. I enjoy the hardboiled male detectives of the the
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1930s and 1940s. The language is wonderful and Chandler can tell a good story. Show Less
LibraryThing member clong
Marlowe is an archetypal character, one of whom we got far too little. And it’s hard not to love the historical setting, especially the Hollywood scene and LA power structure commentary (this from someone who grew up in Los Angeles some 30 years later). It also offers plenty of snappy dialogue,
But I’d have to say that for me this was the weakest Chandler novel to date. The characters were thin and unconvincing (especially but not exclusively the dames), the plot felt overly convoluted and yet fairly random, and to the extent we understood Marlowe’s motivations they seemed far less convincing than they had been in the first two novels I read in this series.
Still, Chandler not at his best is a far more enjoyable read than a lot of other things you could try.
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and numerous examples of Chandler's surprisingly effective descriptive writing.But I’d have to say that for me this was the weakest Chandler novel to date. The characters were thin and unconvincing (especially but not exclusively the dames), the plot felt overly convoluted and yet fairly random, and to the extent we understood Marlowe’s motivations they seemed far less convincing than they had been in the first two novels I read in this series.
Still, Chandler not at his best is a far more enjoyable read than a lot of other things you could try.
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LibraryThing member comfypants
A private detective looks for a man and finds some bodies.
3/4 (Good).
Marlowe is exhausted, hopeless, and maybe a little suicidal. These books keep following a formula which always turns out bad for him, so it's fitting that he's beaten down by it. But mostly I'd guess Chandler was just in a bad
3/4 (Good).
Marlowe is exhausted, hopeless, and maybe a little suicidal. These books keep following a formula which always turns out bad for him, so it's fitting that he's beaten down by it. But mostly I'd guess Chandler was just in a bad
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place when he wrote it. As for the story, it's worse than usual, built around excuses to complain about Hollywood. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1949
Physical description
298 p.; 6.93 inches
ISBN
0140108963 / 9780140108965