What I consider one of the greatest descriptive writers in the Western cannon, Chandler can transport you in to old Los Angeles. Every story will make you crave a stiff drink and perhaps even leaving a smell of tabacoo in your clothes. I recomend these stories to people who want to understand LA better because Chandler caught the essence of the city that can even be seen today. Look down the 2nd street tunnel at 2 am and see that barrel of a gun or drive to the Rosebowl and see why he makes reference that there are no sidewalks in that wealthy neighborhood. If you want to learn about noir, there is a reason Chandler is considered one of the fathers.

The Library of America (LOA), despite missteps here and there, is still a kind of literary escutcheon: an author published by LOA is generally thought of as worthy of canonization. His work is important; it is necessary reading. With the addition of Raymond Chandler to the ranks of Melville, Hawthorne, James, some might hasten to muffle a scoff, thinking this volume to be such a misstep. I would shoot them a look of bemused condescension. Chandler's work, I think, is far from being great. Chandler himself admitted as much. Nonetheless, this volume as well as its compansion volume is necessary reading.

One reviewer here accuses this volume of being misleading because not all of Chandler's stories are included. That not all the stories are included, I believe, is a good thing: even the stories included here are tripe. And there are over 500 pages of them. After reading them, I would not rush out to find the stories not included. Their older brothers being poor, I am loath to consider how poor the lesser stories are, the ones neglected by the editors.

Notwithstanding The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; and the High Window make this volume worth one's time. In it is Chandler's characteristic voice, as expressed through Philip Marlowe. Literate, witty, cynical, it is the hard-boiled ideal: only a man cooler than the other side of the pillow could talk like Marlowe. It is a distinctly American voice, popularized by Hemingway and tweaked here by Chandler. Chander belongs in LOA because of his voice.

That voice was perfected here. Why read derivative versions of Chandler when you can read Chandler himself? When reading his best work, one can understand why the LOA added this volume to its collection. When reading his worst, such as the Pulp stories herein, one questions if not the choice of adding Chandler to LOA, then the shrewdness of the editors' decision of including his worst alongside his best.

There are Hammett fans and Chandler fans. I am for Hammett, but Chandler's work remains compelling. The plots are nonsense but the metaphors are the purest gold. The opening scenes of THE BIG SLEEP and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY are delicious every time.

There are Hammett fans and Chandler fans. I am for Hammett, but Chandler's work remains compelling. The plots are nonsense but the metaphors are the purest gold. The opening scenes of THE BIG SLEEP and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY are delicious every time.

Just my personal opinion, but I think Raymond Chandler is one of the most underrated American authors. Anyone who hasn't read "The Long Goodbye" must be punishing themselves for sins in a past life. "The Big Sleep" and "The High Window" are also excellent novels--good mysteries.

But what really makes Chandler's stories hold up so well is the language: "The Dancers is the kind of club that will dissolution you about what a lot of extra golf money can do for the personality" or "What does it matter, if you're breathing wind and air or oil and water--when you're sleeping the big sleep."

While the plots are wonderful period pieces of a young Los Angeles, the characters are richly drawn. Ever wonder where all those tv detectives came from? Right here.

Chandler's short stories are also supurb. My vote for the single best detective short story of all time is Red Wind--there is so much that happens in such a short story. No one should ever die without reading it....."Trouble is my Business" is also excellent....

Is this a complete collection of his short stories? No--There are a few I would have added, even though several of them were "canibalized" (Chandler's phrase) into later novels. The plot of "Bay City Blues" was built into "Lady in the Lake," but I think that story still holds up on its own. An earlier review also mentioned that "The Pencil" is missing. I can't understand why it was left out. "Killer in the Rain" also became "The Big Sleep," but it still has charm. "No Crime in the Mountains" is not included, but that's not much of a loss.

Not all of the stories in this book work--but that's going to be true with any collection. What is convenient with Library of America is the bindings are wonderful, the print font easy to read, the books lie flat, and will last forever. The list prices are a little steep--but not if you consider the amount of literature you're getting for the cost. I've bought this book three times, and have loaned it out--only for it to never return. But that's why I buy books.

One final note--The previous review mentioned that in this edition Johnny Dahlmas was replaced by Phillip Marlowe in "Red Wind." I was certain it was Johnny, and used Amazon's "Look Inside" to confirm--it is. Chandler had a few detectives, that eventually evolved into Marlowe, and each was a little different. I have a very soft spot in my heart for Dahlmas (I'm probably spelling his name wrong, so the soft spot may be in my head), so if the editor x-ed him out, I'd be furious....

Buy this book.

Chandler is perhaps the greatest writer of detective fiction and a great author period. To ignore these books is to ignore much of what is great about American literature.

Two of his three best novels are included here (The Big Sleep & Farewell, My Lovely).

The stories and great fun, if also rather flawed. My biggest complaint is that are presented here in their republished form, rather than with the original names of the protagonists. (For example, the hero of "Red Wind" is Philip Marlowe here, rather than John Dalmas.) That a fairly minor quibble. Especially good are "Goldfish" and "Red Wind."

The binding is very nice, as are all Library of America editions. My edition has held up quite well after heavy use.

"Nothing made it my business except curiosity. But strictly speaking, I hadn't had any business in a month."(21) For Phillip Marlowe, the irresistibly aloof private detective who stars in Chandler's impressive detective novel, Farewell, My Lovely, crime is not something he seems able or willing to avoid. Hitting the streets of Los Angeles in the midst of the American gambling craze of the 1930's, Marlowe finds himself an inextricable player in a search for knowledge of past and present crimes and criminals.
Though he appears, on the surface, to be little more than a nosy, bumbling "private dick," his successful unraveling of a closely interwoven crowd of crooks proves, as one suspect cop observes, that Marlowe "played...smart....You must got something we wasn't told about." (228) Keeping his cards in his hand for most of the noel, Chandler shows that both he and Marlowe are "smart," leading the reader on a circuitous trail that shakes out only in the novel's final pages.
The story begins with a happenstance encounter between Marlowe and an ex-con called "Moose" Malloy. Marlowe cannot resist pursuing the suspicious-looking hulk of a man and soon finds himself both running after and from a variety of shady characters. In the course of his private investigations, Marlowe survives several near brushes with death, getting "sapped" by thugs near the novel's start, pumped full of opium in a suspicious hospital-like place, and stealthily boarding a closely guarded gambling boat to confront an infamous mobster in the middle of the night. In the end, Marlowe succeeds at untangling the web of murders and crimes that keep him running throughout the novel, but not before giving the reader the run-around as well. Chandler's smart, articulate prose lends itself well to the captivating story and intriguing characters that combine to make this a must-read for fans of detective fiction.

"Nothing made it my business except curiosity. But strictly speaking, I hadn't had any business in a month."(21) For Phillip Marlowe, the irresistibly aloof private detective who stars in Chandler's impressive detective novel, Farewell, My Lovely, crime is not something he seems able or willing to avoid. Hitting the streets of Los Angeles in the midst of the American gambling craze of the 1930's, Marlowe finds himself an inextricable player in a search for knowledge of past and present crimes and criminals.
Though he appears, on the surface, to be little more than a nosy, bumbling "private dick," his successful unraveling of a closely interwoven crowd of crooks proves, as one suspect cop observes, that Marlowe "played...smart....You must got something we wasn't told about." (228) Keeping his cards in his hand for most of the noel, Chandler shows that both he and Marlowe are "smart," leading the reader on a circuitous trail that shakes out only in the novel's final pages.
The story begins with a happenstance encounter between Marlowe and an ex-con called "Moose" Malloy. Marlowe cannot resist pursuing the suspicious-looking hulk of a man and soon finds himself both running after and from a variety of shady characters. In the course of his private investigations, Marlowe survives several near brushes with death, getting "sapped" by thugs near the novel's start, pumped full of opium in a suspicious hospital-like place, and stealthily boarding a closely guarded gambling boat to confront an infamous mobster in the middle of the night. In the end, Marlowe succeeds at untangling the web of murders and crimes that keep him running throughout the novel, but not before giving the reader the run-around as well. Chandler's smart, articulate prose lends itself well to the captivating story and intriguing characters that combine to make this a must-read for fans of detective fiction.

Earlier anthologies of Raymond Chandler's works mostly center upon what have come to be known as his 'big four' or earliest novels -- The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, The Lady In The Lake -- or upon his later, and admittedly (with the possible exception of The Little Sister) 'inferior' works. Chandler's earlier short stories ( many of which he "cannibalized," to use his word, for the material in his subsequent novels) are normally treated as a separate genre altogether.

This particular collection, rightly, combines Chandler's first three novels with the best of his earlier short stories, recognizing the thematic unity in those works. (Good as it is, "The Lady In The Lake" demands to be treated separately from Chandler's earlier efforts.)

Chances are, if you're reading this, you've read most, if not all, of Chandler's Phillip Marlowe novels. You may as well have read many, if not all, of the short stories presented here. But have you read these novels, and these short stories, TOGETHER in this context? Likely not. But you deserve to.

In the short stories, for example, there are protagonists named John Evans, Ted Carmody and Tony Resick (the last two of which, interestingly, inhabit locations which were most likely Los Angeles' Hotel Mayfair, with which Chandler had more than a nodding familiarity). And when, in Chandler's writings, did they meld themselves into what would be his penultimate creation, Phillip Marlowe?

And at which point did Chandler begin to write, as fellow writer Ross McDonald termed it, "like a slumming angel . . ."? The answers to both questions may well lie here, in this collection.

Pick up this collection! Read it! Discover the material anew!

Chandler was a brilliant author and Marlowe is a timeless character. It was for these reasons that I bought this collection. However, it is incomplete and misleading. It boldly states on it's dust jacket that it contains all the short stories that Chandler wrote with the exception of those he refused to have collected in his lifetime. It does not, missing are the Bronze Door and Professor Bingo's Snuff. One would think that the editors of this volume would want to make it a point to include all of these "lost" writings especially because "Killer in the Rain, the book that contains those eight that Chandler didn't want published is currently out of print. As for the remaining two, "The Bronze Door" is in "Fingerman" that has long been out of print and in a few sci-fi pulps, the latest in 1953. "Professor Bingo's Snuff" is in a pulp called "fantasic" and nowhere else. It's a shame they aren't printed here. Aside from that it does serve quite well as a durable, reasonably priced collection of great work.

Chandler was a brilliant author and Marlowe is a timeless character. It was for these reasons that I bought this collection. However, it is incomplete and misleading. It boldly states on it's dust jacket that it contains all the short stories that Chandler wrote with the exception of those he refused to have collected in his lifetime. It does not, missing are the Bronze Door and Professor Bingo's Snuff. One would think that the editors of this volume would want to make it a point to include all of these "lost" writings especially because "Killer in the Rain, the book that contains those eight that Chandler didn't want published is currently out of print. As for the remaining two, "The Bronze Door" is in "Fingerman" that has long been out of print and in a few sci-fi pulps, the latest in 1953. "Professor Bingo's Snuff" is in a pulp called "fantasic" and nowhere else. It's a shame they aren't printed here. Aside from that it does serve quite well as a durable, reasonably priced collection of great work.

This two volume set on the entire canon of Raymond Chandlers work is beautifully put together and very enjoyable to read. After reading this one can only respect the creative mind that created this riveting collection. Marlowe was/is the father of the modern hip detective and as this collection shows the author deserves all the praise in the world for creating him along with numerous other fasinating short stories and screenplays..

The addition of this title and its companion volume, "Later Novels & Other Writings," to the venerable Library of America series makes official what mystery fans have always known: Raymond Chandler is one of the gods of American literature. Following the trail blazed by Dashiell Hammett, Chandler created Philip Marlowe and the set the standard against which all private detective fiction is measured. This two-volume set covers almost the full canon of Chandler's work from early pulp stories to all the Marlowe novels, the screenplay for "Double Indemnity," and essays on the mystery genre plus the usual Library of America goodies such as notes on the text and a chronology of the author's life. In terms of literary inventions, the Wild West cowboy and the hard-boiled PI are this country's only true native sons, and, as such, are deserving of resepct. One of them at least now has it.--Michael Roger

For you hard-boiled detective fans who are also intogeneology, you might like to trace Philip Marlowe's familytree. Raymond Chandler's prototypes for his now famous detective began in the mid-30's with characters from some of his early pulp magazine stories. Whether the character is Ted Carmady, Johnny Dalmas, John Evans, Tony Resick or a character named simply Mallory, they all had the qualities and charactoristics that eventually evolved into what became Philip Marlowe. Red Wind, Trouble Is My Business and Goldfish are just three of more than 40 stories Chandler wrote during his lifetime. Don't miss a single one!