160,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

The Big Sleep and Other Novels

4.32 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 3,263 ratings, 96 reviews)
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.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2900
Elsewhere:
$3200
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

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.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

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

View all
  • East of Eden
    A stunning new series look for one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in Penguin Modern Classics Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the interwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Origins of Totalitarianism
    The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt is a seminal examination of the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century. Through a profound and thorough analysis, Arendt explores the complex mechanisms and underpinnings that facilitated the emergence of totalitarian regimes, specifically delving into the horrors of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Soviet Union. Arendt masterfully dissects the various elements that contribute...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Grapes of Wrath
    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a profound and evocative tale that captures the journey of the Joad family as they traverse the harsh landscapes of America during the Great Depression. As drought and economic hardship ravage their farming homeland in Oklahoma, the resilient Joads are driven from their beloved home and journey westward in a desperate bid...
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Month in the Country
    A sensitive portrayal of the healing process that took place in the aftermath of the First World War, J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country includes an introduction by Penelope Fitzgerald, author of Offshore, in Penguin Modern Classics. A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet village church of Oxgodby where he is...
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Trouble With Being Born
    The Trouble With Being Born by E. M. Cioran is a deeply introspective and profoundly philosophical exploration of the human condition. The book navigates the bleak and often darkly comic territories of existence, examining fundamental questions such as birth, death, the concept of God, the relentless passage of time, the complexity of human relationships, and the daily struggle to find...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Fountainhead
    The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is a gripping narrative that revolves around the unwavering and fiercely independent architect, Howard Roark. Roark’s vision and uncompromising integrity lead him to clash with a conformist society that resists innovation and creativity. The novel intricately explores Roark's journey as he battles against traditional norms, challenges mediocrity, and strives to preserve his unique artistic vision...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Storm of Steel
    Storm of Steel chronicles the harrowing experiences of Ernst Jünger, a German officer during the First World War. From the moment he enters the trenches on the Western Front, Jünger immerses readers in the brutal, relentless combat that defined an era. His narrative is a visceral journey through the realities of war: the brief moments of camaraderie, the relentless artillery...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On the Road
    "The most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.'" - The New York Times On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns, and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • The Haunting of Hill House
    The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is an unparalleled classic in the genre of horror literature, weaving an atmosphere of dread and suspense that continues to captivate readers. The story follows four distinct characters brought together by a shared curiosity about the supernatural phenomena reported at the infamous Hill House. Dr. Montague, a determined and scholarly investigator of...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Myth of Sisyphus
    The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus explores one of the most profound philosophical questions: Is life worth living? Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Second World War, Camus delves into the existential crisis faced by humanity, particularly the struggle to find meaning in a world devoid of higher purpose. Through a captivating blend of philosophical discourse and literary...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Fire Next Time
    The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a seminal work that offers a profound and personal exploration of race relations in America. Structured as two poignant letters, Baldwin addresses his 14-year-old nephew on the one hand, and on the other, an open letter to his fellow countrymen. Through these missives, Baldwin intimately reflects on his experiences growing up in...
    Paperback
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Steppenwolf
    A new translation of this counterculture classic by David Horrocks. At first sight, Harry Haller seems like a respectable, educated man. In reality, he is the Steppenwolf—wild, strange, alienated from society, and repulsed by the modern age. But as he is drawn into a series of dreamlike and sometimes savage encounters—accompanied by, among others, Mozart, Goethe, and the bewitching Hermione—the...
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

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

View all
  • Farewell My Lovely: Popular Penguins
    Eight years ago, Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married—until someone framed Malloy for armed robbery. Now his stretch is up, and he wants Velma back. PI Philip Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help him. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe’s...
    Paperback
    $1699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Lady in the Lake: Popular Penguins
    A woman has been reported missing to detective Marlowe and a corpse is found in the lake. Yet it is not the body of the missing person, but that of one of her neighbours. Now Marlowe's on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy LA all the way to a murky mountain lake... The Lady in...
    Paperback
    $1699
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The High Window
    The classic Chandler mystery, reissued now in B format. The High Window features Philip Marlowe on a case. His client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband's collection. That's the simple part. It becomes more complicated when Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Big Sleep & Farewell, My Lovely
    Two great novels featuring hard-boiled Californian detective Philip Marlowe. 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—alongside an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures—forms the backdrop to a story reflecting all the tarnished glitter of the great American Dream. The hard-boiled...
    Paperback
    $2800
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Farewell, My Lovely
    July 2005 sees a major relaunch of Chandler's Philip Marlowe series to coincide with Harrogate Crime Festival. Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married - until someone framed Malloy for armed robbery. Now his stretch is up, and he wants Velma back. P.I. Philip Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Long Good-bye
    July 2005 sees a major relaunch of Chandler's Philip Marlowe series to tie in with Harrogate Crime Festival. Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem – his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to his only friend in the world – Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator. He's willing to help a...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Big Sleep
    A beautiful repackage of Chandler's most famous and popular novel of all - part of the Chandler reissue series. Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood's two wild, devil-may-care...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • Playback
    The classic Chandler mystery - reissued now in B format. Stalking the tawdry neon wilderness of forties and fifties Los Angeles, Raymond Chandler's hard-drinking, wise-cracking Phillip Marlowe is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. Playback finds Marlowe mixing business with pleasure - getting paid to follow a mysterious and lovely red-head named Eleanor King. And wherever Miss King...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Big Sleep
    The Big Sleep is hard-boiled detective fiction at its best - Raymond Chandler's best-loved novel, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. 'I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.' Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The High Window: Popular Penguins
    The High Window by Raymond Chandler introduces us to Philip Marlowe, a private investigator entangled in a seemingly straightforward case. His client, a dried-up husk of a woman, has tasked him with retrieving a rare gold coin, the Brasher Doubloon, that has disappeared from her late husband's collection. It sounds simple enough. Maybe too simple. However, with every reappearance of...
    Paperback
    $1599
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Lady in the Lake
    The classic Chandler mystery, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Derace Kingsley's wife ran away to Mexico to get a quickie divorce and marry a Casanova-wannabe named Chris Lavery. Or so the note she left her husband insisted. Trouble is, when Philip Marlowe asks Lavery about it, he denies everything and sends the private investigator packing with...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Little Sister
    July 2005 sees a major relaunch of Chandler's Philip Marlowe series to tie in with Harrogate Crime Festival. Her name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or leastways that's what she tells PI Philip Marlowe, offering him a measly twenty bucks for the privilege. But Marlowe's feeling charitable...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The French Illusion
    Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about aParis honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • King’s Ransom
    New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! ‘She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Family Cross
    In the gripping new thriller in James Patterson's globally bestselling series, Alex Cross faces his most personal case yet as a ruthless conspiracy targets Washington's most vulnerable... and his own family. Discover the latest gripping thriller in the globally bestselling Alex Cross series - now the inspiration for the original series CROSS on Prime Video starring Aldis Hodge as Alex...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Heights
    In The Heights by #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sir Ian Rankin, murder comes to London's most exclusive high-rise - and every resident is a suspect... MURDER COMES TO LONDON'S MOST LUXURIOUS HIGH-RISE: AND EVERY RESIDENT IS A SUSPECT. The Heights: a gleaming, high-end high-rise looming over Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, it is a billionaire's playground offering sumptuous suites...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Death Row
    With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Signed Copy
    Dying Days
    Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Fury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
    In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Tom Clancy Pressure Depth
    Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Country Road Murders
    From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 160,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.