Product Description

It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that Raymond Chandler's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared. 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". 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23243 in Books
• Published on: 1992-01-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 584 pages

Review
A posthumous collection of eight stories by a master of hard-boiled evocation shows the sources not only of Philip Marlowe, the shamus, but also of several of the Marlowe novels. For example, the title story later went into The Big Sleep. Though Marlowe has a number of other names here, he's still Marlowe and can tick off a characterization with extreme economy and he also knows L.A. backwards and downwards. The stories first appeared in pulp magazines back in the '30's and they combine that rough rasp of authenticity with a high literary finish which has secured Chandler's position, along with Hammett's, in the line-up of immortals. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that Raymond Chandler's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared. 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". 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.

About the Author
Best-known as the creator of the original private eye, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959. 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.

Customer Reviews

Interesting early Chandler, but for fans only.
A collection of Chandler's short stories, many of which were expanded, or sometimes combined into his longer novels. Philip Marlowe didn't make an appearance by name in these early stories, but his character and actions are already developed. No Crime in the Mountains is the final story and doesn't appear in the later books, possibly because the Nazi villains were no longer fashionable. This is a fascinating read for Chandler fans interested in the origins of his ideas, but casual readers should just stick to the excellent and more developed novels.

A killer collection of early Chandler stories
Before Marlowe, there was Carmady, Dalmas and Evans. Sharp-talking, fast-shooting PIs with attitude, integrity and a knack for getting mixed up in other folks' problems Sound familiar? It should. For not only did these guys pre-date Raymond Chandler's most famous creation, Philip Marlowe, they also paved the way for him, providing the literary blueprint from which he evolved. Indeed, part of their heroic legacy can be found in this collection of early short stories.

Originally published between 1935 and 1941 in pulp magazines like "Black Mask" and "Dime Store Detective," the eight stories comprising "Killer in the Rain" were later adapted and reworked by Chandler to form the basis of his novels "The Big Sleep," "Farewell My Lovely" and "The Lady in the Lake." Feeling that he had thus committed a form of creative 'cannibalism,' the author refused for them to be anthologised during his lifetime, hoping instead that they would fade from public memory. Fortunately for his fans, however, the stories (along with a fascinating introduction charting their background and transition to novel form) eventually resurfaced in this volume, first published in 1964, five years after Chandler's death. And any guilt the reader may feel about contravening the great man's wishes by daring to open its pages soon dissolves into wonder at his unfailing brilliance.

All the Chandler trademarks are there. Complex, tormented protagonists like the lovesick murderer Steve Skalla in "Try the Girl," and the doomed drunk Helen Matson in "Bay City Blues." Exquisitely drawn minor characters like Soukesian the Psychic ("Mandarin's Jade"), General Winslow ("The Curtain") and the usual array of gun-toting thugs, each with his own idiosyncrasies and personality defects. The sprawling city of L.A. - one minute dark with menace, the next bleached bright and beautiful - less a backdrop than a character in its own right.

There's crazy, twisted plots to make you gasp, and dialogue so sharp it hurts. There's insight upon unflinching insight into the futility of the human condition. Each and every story simmers with sleaze, violence, corruption and greed - not to mention enough drugs and hard liquor to fell a herd of stampeding wildebeest - but somehow, despite it all, the prose reverberates with a certain kind of (cynical) lyricism. And this, in my opinion, is what distinguishes Chandler's writing from that of his more hardboiled contemporaries. Even a fleeting observation can become something infinitely meaningful: "A cigarette girl with a tray the size of a five-pound candy box came down the gangway. She wore feathers in her hair, enough clothes to hide behind a three-cent stamp, and one of her long, beautiful, naked legs was gilded and the other was silvered. She had the cold, disdainful expression of a dame who is dated so far ahead that she would have to think twice before accepting a knockdown to a maharajah with a basket of rubies under his arm" ("Bay City Blues"). Poetry!

Because Raymond Chandler wrote crime fiction, a genre traditionally not embraced with open arms by purveyors of so-called 'serious literature,' his status as one of the 20th century's greatest and most influential writers has always been subject to some dispute. Like the rest of his oeuvre, however, "Killer in the Rain" provides ample evidence that there is simply no room for doubt. The man was an artist.