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The Big Sleep and Other Novels

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Big Sleep and Other Novels by Raymond Chandler is a collection of classic crime stories featuring the iconic detective Philip Marlowe. Set in the gritty underworld of Los Angeles, these novels explore themes of corruption, deceit, and morality as Marlowe navigates through cases involving blackmail, murder, and intricate conspiracies. Each tale keeps readers on edge with its sharp dialogue and intricate plots.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this collection if you're drawn to gritty detective stories and the atmospheric allure of classic noir fiction. Featuring Raymond Chandler's famed private eye, Philip Marlowe, the novels offer a blend of sharp dialogue, complex characters, and intertwining mysteries that captivate fans of crime and thriller genres.

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Often imitated but never bettered, it is in Marlowe's long shadow that every fictional detective must stand - and under the influence of Raymond Chandler's addictive prose that every crime author must write. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family - and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Raymond Chandler created the fast-talking, trouble-seeking Californian private eye Philip Marlowe for his first great novel, The Big Sleep, in 1939. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family—and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures—is the background to a story reflecting all the tarnished glitter of the great American Dream.

The detective's iconic image burns just as brightly in Farewell My Lovely, as he pursues the trail of a missing nightclub crooner. And the inimitable Marlowe is able to prove that trouble really is his business in Raymond Chandler's brilliant epitaph, The Long Goodbye.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141182612

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 February 2000

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 29.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 465g

Pages: 672

About the Author

Raymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888, but moved to England with his family when he was twelve, where he attended Dulwich College, alma mater to some of the twentieth century's most renowned writers. Returning to America in 1912, he settled in California, worked in a number of jobs, and later married. It was during the Depression era that he seriously turned his hand to writing, and his first published story appeared in the pulp magazine Black Mask in 1933, followed six years later, when he was fifty, by his first novel, The Big Sleep. Chandler died in 1959, having established himself as the finest crime writer in America.

Also by Raymond Chandler

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