First story "Blackmailer's Don't Shoot". Read as this author was suggested in questions for discussion re: Shape of Water for book reading group. Not great for character development, lots of action and shooting/death. Set in old California - a little commentary about the time, but not a great deal yet. Not my favorite. Will need to read another story to see if they improve.

One of my literary heroes. The creator of Phillip Marlowe, Private Eye.

Yummy, yummy, yummy! I'm ready to read it all over again --it's like eating scrumptious, dark chocolates!

Olyan itt-ott, mintha nem is Chandler írta volna.
O.o

tt○ Introduction
tt○ Select Bibliography
tt○ Chronology
tt○ Blackmailer's Don't Shoot
tt○ Smart-Aleck Kill
tt○ Finger Man
tt○ Killer in the Rain
tt○ Nevada Gas
tt○ Spanish Blood
tt○ Guns at Cyrano's
tt○ The Man Who Liked Dogs
tt○ Pickup on Noon Street
tt○ Goldfish
tt○ The Curtain
tt○ Try the Girl
tt○ Mandarin's Jade
tt○ Red Wind
tt○ The King in Yellow
tt○ Bay City Blues
tt○ The Lady in the Lake
tt○ Pearls Are a Nuisance
tt○ Trouble is my Business
tt○ I'll Be Waiting
tt○ The Bronze Door
tt○ No Crime in the Mountains
tt○ Professor Bingo's Snuff
tt○ The Pencil tt○ Introduction
tt○ Select Bibliography
tt○ Chronology
tt○ Blackmailer's Don't Shoot
tt○ Smart-Aleck Kill
tt○ Finger Man
tt○ Killer in the Rain
tt○ Nevada Gas
tt○ Spanish Blood
tt○ Guns at Cyrano's
tt○ The Man Who Liked Dogs
tt○ Pickup on Noon Street
tt○ Goldfish
tt○ The Curtain
tt○ Try the Girl
tt○ Mandarin's Jade
tt○ Red Wind
tt○ The King in Yellow
tt○ Bay City Blues
tt○ The Lady in the Lake
tt○ Pearls Are a Nuisance
tt○ Trouble is my Business
tt○ I'll Be Waiting
tt○ The Bronze Door
tt○ No Crime in the Mountains
tt○ Professor Bingo's Snuff
tt○ The Pencil
English Summer

Guess I'm more of a Hammett

It took me a while to finish this book but I did it. There are some run of the mill stories and there are many very good stories. English Summer (the last one) was different and well written.

I am impressed by my most favorite writer in this book again, for I believe there exists his honest writing style.

2024 update a re-read of the stories that underpin the first two novels. The Big Sleep & Farewell My Lovely. It is hard to imagine how much of these stories were repurposed to passages in the novels. Wonderful!

Excellent. The stories truly put you in the LA of the times.

Raymond Chandler appears to be the master of the 1950s detective fiction genre. I dove into the Collected Stories edition from the Hussey-Mayfield Public Library, Zionsville branch. Unfortunately I didn't complete all 25 stories in this one, complete volume. He brings the tough, but eloquent post-war past alive through his Phillip Marlowe style, terse detective characters. Got to return you to the library, but we'll meet again.

Read every one of them.