Suggested by Nora ephron

An interesting mix of Black mask shorts (many later cannibalized for Marlowe stories), the occasional original Marlowe story, and the odd fantasy/magical realist crime story, and one 'gothic romance'. And interesting read for the Chandler devotee, but best avoided by the casual Marlowe fan.

The private detective in almost all of Chander's stories is the same, even if he has a different name and place of employment. The secondary characters and the plots are what make the stories interesting, and Chandler's way with words, especially for descriptions, is what makes them works of art. All but three stories in this collection are private detective-centered mysteries. The exceptions are two stories each with a magical element (a door through which people simply disappear, and a snuff which renders the user invisible); these two explore the question of what if murder were made easy. The final story is a gothic romance, but it again features murder.

Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories (Everyman's Library) by Raymond Chandler (2002)

This book is really for Chandler superfans as many of the stories were turned into his novels. It can get disappointingly repetitive if you've already read his novels. However, i was delighted to find that he'd written a couple stories with supernatural elements, The Bronze Door and Professor Bingo's Snuff (which, bonus points for the whimsical title).
Additionally, English Summer was not a detective story. It's labeled by the author as a Gothic romance, but it's exactly the Gothic romance a hardboiled detective story writer would write.
Anyhow, I enjoyed this book. Not his greatest work, but an interesting dive into the evolution of his greatest works.

The writing craft itself is good, but the casual racism makes for tough going (and it's not just "the time"; Chandler deliberately exploits it, like sexism and gun violence, to make his stories seem grittier than real life).

Stories are good but I find them a bit unclear at various points. Using everyone's last name gets old and kind of sounds a bit odd.

I have been reading so much Chandler in the last two or three months and been so captivated by his writing I don't know what time zone I am in anymore. If you told me the year was 1953 I might believe you. He's that good.

I think he is one of America's best writers no doubt.

Seemed like a continuation of the same story, but I didn't mind 'cuz it was like witnessing a teleplay from the 1950's.

Nice enough but a little bit too old fashioned for me.I don't feel nostalgic about the gangter era.

Not bad.

Bought this for myself after falling in love with Chandler's writing all over again.