You can really see the evolution in his writing from reading his stories and then into his novels. Re-reading the novels it brings back images of the movies that were made from these books.

He writes cinematically with such visual descriptions of people, places, and action without getting bogged down in the descriptions. Now I want to see the movies again.

"What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. But the old man didn't have to be. He could lie quiet in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on the sheet, waiting. His heart was a brief, uncertain murmur. His thoughts were grey as ashes. And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep."

This rating is based solely on the 12 shorter stories in this collection. The included novels/novellas (read previously) are even better.

Finger Man is probably my favorite, with Spanish Blood, Guns at Cyrano's, and Red Wind all in competition as well.

"Her face became a blank haggard mask on which rouge burned violently."

Not quite as good as Macdonald, but still really good. Reading some of the pulp stories this time, and "Pearls Are a Nuisance" is super funny. Humor isn't usually a part of this kind of writing and it's a tribute to Chandler's skill he pulls it off. Highly recommended.

"Trouble is My Business" is bedrock Los Angeles private eye stuff. You could probably say that the whole genre comes out of "Trouble Is My Business"'s trench coat.

"I'll Be Waiting" is another gem. A highly anthologized story, "I'll Be Waiting" has it all: Chandler's bittersweet street smart characters, a pre-war urban setting that isn't seen in the U.S. anymore, and of course bad guys and good guys, with some overlap between the two.

The novels in this edition are also excllent, with "The High Window" being a personal favorite. Highly recommended.

I love the language of this book, and the wonderfully vivid description of drunk low-lifes in (1930s?) Los Angeles. The book seems to deal more earnestly with subjects like homosexuality and pornography, which is hardly surprising given the Hayes Code of the time.

Whiskey-soaked, noir crime fiction at its best. I enjoyed Chandler's language, dialog and description that painted a picture of the dark side of 1930's LA. What was unexpected was the insertion of Phillip Marlowe's sarcastic humor in the three novels in this collection. Over a 1000 pages of Raymond Chandler. It was time well spent.

Very nice edition. Thin (not India) paper; a ribbon for bookmark; includes a detailed biographical chronology and even notes on the text.

Well I've read about 75-80% of this one, if you count a previous read of "The Big Sleep." I loved the dialogue, even if I had to decipher some of it. I read most of the short stories and Farewell My Lovely. I've enjoyed this foray deep into the dark side of LA! Almost makes me want to start drinking and smoking heavily ;)

I borrowed this and it's companion of later works as it was the only way the Brooklyn Public Library offered me a way to read the High Window and Playback (the latter in the second volume). The High Window is the first of the thin (dare I call it fluff?) Marlowes. Nowhere near approaching the density of the Big Sleep or the substantive charm of Farewell, My Lovely, the High Window is still one to go by.

So what the hell may as well as read the short stories from the pulps, too eh? Witness Chandler turn from "I could use a buck" to "I have something to say about a gentleman among the trash". And it serves it's purpose - namely, if there's a pulp series in need of some hack writer, hit me up. I can write you a dolly or two. All on the level.

When it comes to gritty crime writing, Raymond Chandler is still the best. You can have the great dialogs of Elmore Leonard or the gritty scenes of James Ellroy's Los Angeles but they sit at the feet of Chandler and Philip Marlowe.
I picked this edition of Chandler collections because it contains 'Red Wind', probably his best short story. I love the beginning"

"Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen."

This first paragraph sets both the time, location, and mood of the story. Chandler is the king of pot-boiler crime writers.

I'll knock off a star because the collections are kind of pricey.

Hard Boiled Best

Classic; opened up an entire genre for me. Now my only concern is whether everything else will be downhill from here!