Another Marlowe novel I haven't read in 25 years and which I have lapped up on Audio.

Okay, with this one I did actually remember whodunnit, so the twist wasn't there for me, but what i found instead was some of the finest, snappiest tough guy dialogue ever written.

A murderous treat!

The High Window (Philip Marlowe #3), Raymond Chandler

The High Window is a 1942 novel written by Raymond Chandler. It is his third novel featuring the Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe. A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune—the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «پنجره بالایی»؛ «پنجره مرتفع»؛ نویسنده: ریموند چندلر؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سوم ماه می سال2008میلادی

عنوان: پنجره بالایی؛ نویسنده: ریموند چندلر؛ مترجم: فتح الله جعفری جوزانی؛ تهران، شوکا، سال1386، در286ص؛ شابک9789648005868؛ عنوان دیگر پنجره ی مرتفع؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

عنوان: پنجره مرتفع؛ نویسنده: ریموند چندلر؛ مترجم حسن زیادلو؛ تهران، هزارافسان، سال1387، در336ص؛ شابک9789649174693؛ عنوان دیگر پنجره ی بالایی؛

داستان درگیری کاراگاه «مارلو» با ماجرای جعل سکه ی «براشر دابلون (سکه ای امریکای سال1787میلادی»؛ و جنایتهای دور و بر آن است؛ خانم «الیزابت برایت مورداک»، می‌خواستند کاراگاه خصوصی پاک و تمیزی استخدام نمایند، که خاکستر سیگارش را روی زمین نریزد، و هیچ‌گاه بیشتر از یک اسلحه با خود حمل نکند؛ او سکه‌ ی نایابی را گم کرده بود؛ وی می‌دانست چه کسی آن را دزدیده است؛ او «مارلو» را استخدام کرد، تا آن سکه را برایش بیاورد؛ و اینکار را هم با عجله‌ ی تمام انجام دهد، زیرا خانم «مورداک»، چیزهایی برای پنهان کردن داشت، حتی از «مارلو»؛ سکه صحیح و سالم بازگردانده شد، ولی این تفتیش‌ها، رشته‌ جنایت‌هایی را آشکار کرد؛ وجود یک حق‌ السکوت بگیر باوقار؛ مارلو، در تنگنا قرار گرفته بود؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/03/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

خوب بود.
فقط اگر اینهمه معماهای خرده ریز و نالازم و شخصیتهای اضافه و منفعل که بود و نبودشان هیچ فرقی نمیکرد و حتی ملاحتی هم نداشتن نبودن، کتاب دلپذیرتری میشد.
اما شخصیت مارلو، یک سرزندگی خاصی به من میدهد.
انگار گویا یک مارلوی درون دارم.

Chandler's a real pro. This feels like it tripped off the pen, like his kick from writing it is no less than ours from reading it. His great sense of timing isn't going to work out of context, so you are going to have to take my word for it.

Still...just this, in the middle of describing a character's face.

He had a long nose that would be into things.

I've read this sentence a hundred times now. Savoured it. Fantastic. The guy is sharp as when it comes to building pictures of people, of settings, of the world in which he lived. I wonder if he got into trouble in the witchhunts.

He is stylistically as timeless as Chekhov. I can't imagine in a hundred years he would have dated in any way.

I have no idea why on earth this wouldn't be considered literature with a big 'L'. Just none.

RTC.

Short crime novel by Raymond Chandler completed with his specific sarcastic style.It’s not my favourite one but it is a classic anyway in crime prose and the author deserves his recognition.

Ritorna in libreria un altro episodio di Philip Marlowe, nella traduzione di Gianni Pannofino. Adelphi, infatti, sta ripubblicando tutta la produzione di Raymond Chandler e dopo “Il grande sonno”, “Addio, mia amata” e “Il lungo addio”, arriva in libreria “Finestra sul vuoto”.


Di Philip Marlowe colpisce la sua forza carismatica veramente unica. Marlowe, con le sue indagini, mostra tutto il marcio che esiste nella società americana, fondata sull’arricchimento rapido e mette in evidenza l’anima nera di un paese in balia della corruzione, che non si è reso ancora conto di aver perso l’innocenza.

Nella sua inchiesta il detective incontra ogni sorta di vizio, in un mondo chiuso e dissoluto, dove conta solo la distanza tra il vendersi e il comprare.

Sotto la corazza di un uomo duro, Marlowe mostra la sua natura umana e dolente, sensibile e generosa:

“Si era fatta sera. Sono tornato a casa e mi sono messo in libertà. Ho sistemato i pezzi sulla scacchiera, mi sono preparato un drink e ho giocato un’altra partita di Capablanca. Erano cinquantanove mosse. Gli scacchi – belli, gelidi, spietati, quasi inquietanti nella loro muta implacabilità.
Quando ho finito mi sono avvicinato alla finestra aperta per ascoltare e annusare la notte. Poi ho portato il bicchiere in cucina, l’ho lavato e l’ho riempito di acqua con ghiaccio, restando lì a bere e a guardare la mia faccia allo specchio”

La trama di questo noir è complessa, con inattesi e improvvisi cambi di rotta: il vero intento di Chandler non è quello di risolvere il caso, ma di investigare l’animo umano, oscurato dal marcio della corruzione e della disonestà.
E accanto al marciume trova sempre il modo di far spiccare gli animi buoni, segno che non tutte le speranze in un’umanità migliore siano andate perse


“Quando me ne sono andato, Merle aveva addosso un grembiule da cucina e stava preparando della pasta frolla. Mi ha accompagnato alla porta ripulendosi le mani nel grembiule e mi ha dato un bacio sulla bocca, dopo di che è scoppiata a piangere ed è corsa in casa, lasciando la porta aperta, finché non è arrivata sua madre con un gran sorriso affettuoso per guardarmi andar via.
Ho avuto una strana sensazione, mentre la casa scompariva alle mie spalle, come se avessi scritto una poesia, una poesia bellissima, e poi l’avessi persa, scoprendomi incapace di ricordarla.”

N.B. La serie
- “Il grande sonno” ~ Primo episodio
- “Addio, mia amata” ~ secondo episodio
- “Il lungo addio” ~ sesto episodio
- “Finestra sul vuoto” ~ terzo episodio

This is the third of Chandler's novels featuring hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe, and the first that I hadn't previously read as a kid. As a result I was coming to this book with an almost entirely fresh perspective. Nor was I disappointed.

The High Window comes across as a much less convoluted story than the first two books, and we get a glimpse at Marlowe's sympathetic side when he takes an interest in the novel's damsel in distress. That said, we still get to see plenty of sass from the wise-cracking shamus as he goes on the trail of a missing coin, almost literally tripping over dead bodies along the way.

Compared to the previous two books Chandler seems to have found his feet with this one, and I personally found his writing style more refined and more confident. The story seemed to flow more readily, and encounters that initially appear to be random and unconnected to the main case soon turn out to be deliberate and very much connected. By the end of the book the gal's been saved, the coin's been found, and even if not all of the killers are brought to justice, the whole mess has been wrapped up in a very neat bow by our hero.

Out of the three Marlowe books I've read so far I would certainly count this as my favourite, and based on this would probably recommend it as the first one to read for anyone unfamiliar with Chandler's work.

Philip Marlowe is hired to find the Brasher doubloon, a valuable gold coin stolen from its owner. Marlowe trails the owner's daughter in law, thinking she stole the coin. Marlowe's path leads him into a web of murder and blackmail. Will Marlowe be able to find who stole the doubloon without winding up on the pile of corpses left in its wake?

As I continuously mention, noir fiction of this type agrees with me like a bottle of Mad Dog does a homeless man. The High Window, Raymond Chandler's third Philip Marlowe book, is no exception.

A wise man once said "No one reads Raymond Chandler for the plot." I agree with whomever that wizzened old sage was. Chandler never met a plot he couldn't overly complicate but The High Window is one of his more coherent ones. The search for a stolen doubloon sees multiple men dead and a wealthy family's secrets pulled out of the basement and thrown on the front lawn for all the neighbors to see.

Marlowe is Marlowe. As usual, much of the supporting cast exists mostly for Marlowe to bounce great lines off of and/or have sapping or shooting at him. The Bright family is a bunch of rotten apples one and all.

As I said before, this is one of Chandler's simpler plots but it's still a bit of a mess. It took me a little while to tip to the connection between the dentist and the missing coin. The blackmail angle was well done. Chandler played his cards close to the vest, like always. "It just made me want to climb up the wall and gnaw my way across the ceiling." Marlowe used that line to describe a drink he took. That's how I felt about the plot sometimes.

It's no surprise by now that Chandler's prose is the star of the show. I mentioned in my review of Farewell, My Lovely, that Chandler's prose sometimes reminded me of a gritty P.G. Wodehouse. I've since learned that Chandler spent a lot of his early life in England so that's a little easier to understand now.

While it's my least favorite of the three Chandler books I've read so far, The High Window is still a great read, if for no other reason than to experience Raymond Chandler's prose. Not quite a four but it's an overflowing three star read.

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 36 (of 250)
As I was reading all 7 Chandler novels but in general confused about Marlowe and plots, this work was a very pleasant surprise: I understood why Chandler is so highly praised.
HOOK - 4 stars: >>>The house on Dresden Avenue in the Oak Noll section of Pasadena, a big solid cool-looking house with burgundy brick walls, a terra cotta tile roof, and a white stone trim. The front windows were leaded downstairs...All I knew about the people was that they were a Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock and family and that she wanted to hire a nice clean private detective who wouldn't drop cigar ashes on the floor and [I love this next choice of words] and never carried more than one gun...<<PACE - 3: Chandler takes his time observing. As he waits to enter the house, "A large black and gold butterfly fishtailed in and landed on a hydrangea bush almost at my elbow, moved its wings slowly up and down a few times, then took off heavily and staggered aay through the motionless hot scented air. About to enter a case, Chandler/Marlowe stops to 'smell the roses'. Chandler isn't in any hurry to tell the story: the pace is fine, we all SHOULD stop and smell the roses.
PLOT - 4: This story is almost 100% linear and free of some overwhelming plot elements that have hurt his other novels, imo. Mrs. Murdock suspects her daughter-in-law, Linda Conquest, of stealing a rare coin, a 'Brasher Doublon' hand-manufactured in 1793, before the days of mints. It's worth about $10,000 and the dead Mr. Murdock had demanded in his will that the coin not be parted from his collection (apparently as long as any family member is still alive). And, Linda has apparently disappeared. Marlowe is to find Linda and return the coin, no police are to be involved. As I read novels that I expect to have twists and turns, I make a list of questions that come to mind. Here is a few of the 14 questions I noted as I read:
Q1? - Did Mrs. Murdock show a true picture of Linda Conquest to Marlowe?
Q2?- Has Linda been murdered and this is the way the family is covering up the murder? (Lots of red herrings lead to this question.)
Q3? - If Mrs. Murdock did NOT show Marlowe a picture of Linda, then whose picture is it anyway?
Q4? - Wait - does this story have ANYTHING to do with that coin, or a hinted at divorce between Mrs. Murdock's son, Leslie, and Linda?
Q5? - IF this story isn't about the coin or a divorce, then what's really going on? (Without giving anything away, question five is THE key question because a second detective appears on the scene, then there appears a man who is following both Marlowe AND the second detective.)
So, I can say that what's really going on isn't apparent for about half the novel, and Chandler lays a trail of red herrings that Dame Agatha Christie would have enjoyed reading herself, I imagine.
This is my favorite Chandler plot, better than "Big Sleep" and "Farewell, My Lovely", Marlowe #1, and #2, respectively. (As I read novels, and write questions, such as here, I also write the answers to the questions in a different colored ink. Just a tad bit of OCD? Yea, in a good way.)
CAST-4: There isn't a single note of racism here, unlike "Big Sleep" and "Farewell". There is a Fillipino houseboy with a healthy foreign accent, but no xenophobia. There is no homophobia and, like in other Chandler books, bromance lines like Marlowe saying, "I like small-close built men. They never seem to be afraid of anything. Come and see me sometime." Oh, that "Come and see me sometime" is awfully close, and perhaps an homage, to Mae West's famous, "Come up and see me sometime", the word "up" a double entendre for West, one of hundreds. Chandler has more bromance style lines than any other author I've read. Here's another good one, and odd, because Marlowe is "shocked" at some news and find himself at a counter in a drugstore and says to a druggist, "That's a nice sharp pencil you have there." Now really, who says that without a double meaning? This cast is rather limited: there is Miss Merle Davis, Mrs. Murdock's child-like secretary. Kenny Hasta is a crime reporter and fact finder for Marlowe. George Anson Phillips is the 2nd detective. Mr. Vannier is a frequent visitor to Lois Magic, married to night-club owner Alex Morny. Not a spectacular cast, but a good one. There is a bit of sexism, but Chandler gives the ladies some empowering names like "Linda Conquest" and "Lois Magic." And it's not just the ladies who occasionally are shocked: at one point Chandler/Marlowe admits "I've had a shock. I'm a little dazed," but later looks at himself in a mirror and sees a guy who has recovered. There is SOMETHING wrong with Chandler/Marlowe, something off. Maybe it's best to say Marlowe is actually out of his element. It's as if Marlowe is always a 'fish out of water'.
ATMOSPHERE - A HUGE 5. Chandler never disappoints in this area. Get this description of a client just arriving at Marlowe's office: "It was a slim tall self-satisfied looking number in a tropical worsted suit of slate blue, black and white shoes, a dull ivory-colored shirt and a tie and display handkerchief the color of jacaranda bloom. He [it's a man, I like the way Chandler withholds that bit of information for a line or 2] was holding a long black cigarette-holder in a peeled back white pigskin glove and he was wrinkling his nose at the dead magazines on the library table and the chairs and the rust floor covering and the general air of not much money being made." Gorgeous. Even better: "In the swivel chair at the desk sat an elderly party in a dark gray suit with high lapels and too many buttons down the front. He had some stringy white hair that grew long enough to tickle his ears....a black string tie poked a small hard knot out at the bottom of the collar, like a mouse getting ready to come out of a mousehole." I've never heard a necktie described as such, very clever. And to today's headlines in America, Chandler writes Marlowe saying, "The law, whatever it is, is a matter of give and take, Mrs. Murdock. Like most other things. Even if I had the legal right to stay clammed up - refused to talk - and got away with it once, that would be the end of my business." (As a side reference, President Trump seems to want to get away with it...a lot). A page later, Marlowe returns to the issue: "You have to satisfy them [the law] that you are being frank and open and have nothing to hide. As long as they think your are hiding something they never let up. Give them a reasonable and plausible story and they go away cheerful. And the most reasonable and plausible story is always the truth." I like Marlowe more and more. I like his oddity.
SUMMARY: 4.0. I think this is Chandler almost at the top of his game. Beautifully atmospheric with a straight-forward plot resolved, tied up, and delivered. And oh how Chandler loves Los Angeles. If you haven't read Chandler, read this one. It's enjoyable on many levels. But I think there is one even better: that's coming up in my countdown.

Chandler firing on all cylinders! Excellent plot and pacing from beginning to end, with some wonderful shady characters, a high body count and superb prose throughout. Although thoroughly hardboiled, Marlowe has always had a pretty strong moral compass. Here we see him take it up a notch, playing the knight in shining armor and rescuing a damsel in distress.

Really solid, and great in some parts. But lacking the tightly packaged scenes and bits that made his first two more engaging to read. Probably because this is a standalone, and the first two were constructed from short stories