Chandler's Philip Marlowe, along with Hammett's Sam Spade, are considered by some to be synonymous with 'private detective,' both having been played on screen by Humphrey Bogart, whom many considered to be the quintessential Marlowe. Cain and other Black Mask writers, of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction. He died on March 26, 1959, in La Jolla, California.Ĭhandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature, and is considered by many to be a founder, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. In the year before he died, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. All but Playback have been realized into motion pictures, some several times. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published just seven full novels during his lifetime (though an eighth in progress at his death was completed by Robert B. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. His first short story, 'Blackmailers Don't Shoot', was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. In 1932, at age forty-four, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter. His books include The Big Sleep, The Little Sister, Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Good-bye, The Lady in the Lake, Playback, Killer in the Rain, The High Window and Trouble is My Business. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, and he is widely regarded as one of the very greatest writers of detective fiction. 'Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes' Anthony Burgessīest-known as the creator of the original private eye, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959. 'One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain' Sunday Times

'Anything Chandler writes about grips the mind from the first sentence' Daily Telegraph Sharper than a hoodlum's switchblade, more exciting than an unexpected red-head and stronger than a double shot of whisky, they are packed full of the punchy poetry and laconic wit that makes Chandler the undisputed master of his genre. Here then, from the well-thumbed pages of 'Black Mask' and 'Dime Detective Magazine', are eight of his finest stories including 'The Man Who Liked Dogs', 'The Lady in the Lake' and 'Bay City Blues'.

It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that Raymond Chandler's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared. Killer in the Rain collects together eight classic short stories by Raymond Chandler.

Lady in the lake chandler