Thoughts at the half-way point of The Long Good-bye

There is a real difference between the Philip Marlowe books written before the second world war and the one I'm reading this week which came afterwards.

The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely introduce you to a wise but clevcer Philip Marlowe who has the wise cracks and is prepared to take the punches to solve the case. The people he mixes with tend sto be at both ends of the social spectrum with the blondes living off daddy's money down to the thugs trying to intimidate him out of solving the case.

In The Long Good-Bye Marlowe seems to be tired, vulnerable and although the wise cracks keep coming they just don't have the zip of earlier attempts. The brutality of the war seems to have made his run-ins with hoodlums and casino owners lose that bit of tension.

There are also references to technology that didn't seem to be there pre-war. Then it was all about guns, cars and cocktail mixers but now it's television, coffee makers and electric shavers.

It can't have helped that Chandler's wife was dying as he wrote the book. It is still enjoyable but so far in it's sad to come across this Marlowe compared to the one from the 1930s.

A review will follow on completion...

book of books - The Big Sleep

A picture of a gun toting Humphrey Bogart adorns the front cover and in the background is a glamorous blond. But although sex is offered the women are nothing but trouble for Raymond Chandler’s lead character Philip Marlowe. He manages to survive only just by shaking off their advances, although it almost costs him his life.

Although reading Chandler might feel like a guilty pleasure this is well worth it because the sense of enjoyment is there throughout the book. There is a pace that drags you in and makes you feel as if you are sitting on Marlowe’s shoulder and that is a pleasure worth feeling plenty of guilt about.

Plot summary
Hired to solve a black mail case Marlowe cannot keep away from the bigger mystery of what happened to the son-in-law of his client, a wealthy general with two wild daughters. He manages to solve the blackmail case and on the way get embroiled in a couple of murders with the blackmailer, an erotic bookseller named Geiger, as well as those trying to make advantage out of his demise, Brody another blackmailer, getting bullets lodged in their guts. With the apparent blackmail case solved Marlowe turns back to the question of what happened to bootlegger Rusty Regan, who was meant to have run off with the wife of nightclub owner Eddie Mars. But Marlowe gets tipped off about the whereabouts of Mrs Mars and although he almost gets killed and has to kill a man to escape there is no sign of Regan. He then works out that the younger of the general’s daughters killed him in a frenzy and after she tries to do it to him he informs the older sister that he has worked it out and tells them to leave town. Meanwhile he has also worked out that Mars worked out what had happened and was waiting to blackmail the daughters once they came into their father’s fortune.

Is it well written?
This is almost like two books with the Geiger case dominating the first and then the search for Regan the second. The result of that slight gear change is that you have to drop and then rebuild the pace. Maybe it is because my recent Chandler reading has been short stories but that drop and then rebuilding of pace is something slightly difficult to get used to. There is also more of a personality on show here with Marlowe displaying the traits of the lonely and damaged and when he is almost seduced by Carmen, the younger daughter, his reaction is slightly more than is required. That sort of depth is often lacking in the short stories but Chandler doesn’t really take it anywhere so you are left with a flawed hero without much explanation why. Overall though the one-liners, sharp eye for detail and a twisting and turning plot make this an enjoyable read.

Should it be read?
If you like Chandler then it is not a question of if but when you will get round to reading this book. Because of its Hollywood connections this might be a recognisable title and therefore get chosen ahead of some of the other books. That would not be a bad thing because it lays out Philip Marlowe and the world he inhabits as well as anything else I have so far read. In terms of the demands it makes on a reader there are not too many and it is just a question of finding the time to read this book rather than having to sit there with a dictionary or other reference works.
Summary
Blackmail and lies cost lives and make a lethal mix when a dose of youthful madness is added to the mix

Version read – Penguin paperback

Lunchtime read part II: The Big Sleep

"What did it matter where you lay once you wee dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell."

The book ends with Marlowe in devastating form ripping apart any attempts to stop him spelling out the truth. You wait for this moment for 215 pages and when it comes it is well worth waiting for.

Highlights from chapters XXXI and XXXII

* Marlowe stops after getting his commission from the general to find Rusty and talks to Carmen the younger crazier daughter and she asks him to teach her to shoot after he hands her back her gun he picked up when she fired at Brody

* She directs him out to a remote abandoned farm and oil works and Marlowe wanders off 30 years to set up the target but as he gets within 10 feet of her she starts shooting at him and falls into an unconscious fit after he manages to grab her

* He takes her home and then confronts her sister Vivian and tells her what he thinks has been happening – that Carmen shot Regan and she had to pay Eddie Mars $15,000 to hush it up but in turn Mars was going to blackmail her out of her fortune – and then tells her that he filled the gun with blanks and that’s why he has come back unlike Regan

* She admits it and Marlowe demands that she takes her sister away to get cured from her condition but threatens to spill the beans if she has not left town in three days and then despite the likely trouble he decides to head out and tell Eddie Mars its all off

A full review probably on Sunday…

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

The book reaches its conclusion and in a way The Big Sleep has been two books with the blackmailing Geiger story the first part and then the hunt for Rusty Regan the second. The Regan story is darker than the first and is personally more dangerous for Marlowe and takes you into contact with contract killers, bent policemen and the seedier side of what money can do as a corruptible force.

Highlights between chapters XXVI to XXX

* Marlowe decides to follow up on the lead to Agnes who knows where Eddie Mars’s wife is hiding out but he is too late and the man he arranged to meet has been poisoned with cyanide

* Marlowe takes a call in his office and Agnes arranges to meet and she tells him the details and Marlowe heads off to find her and after getting two punctures meets the poisioner hanging out in a garage

* Before he knows it Marlowe has been knocked out and tied up but the mistake they make is to leave him with Eddie Mars’s wife who lets Marlowe escape but all he does is wait outside and then put four bullets into the man who kept him prisoner

* He goes to the police but doesn’t get thanked for it and then he has an appointment with the general who asks him why he chose to try to go after Regan when he had not been instructed to

* Marlowe explains that he had a hunch that’s what the general wanted and when he explains he is now backing off the old man offers him $1,000 to track Regan down and sends him on his way

Might try to squeeze the final bit in tonight or tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

The loneliness that Sara Patesky wrote about in her article in the Saturday is all too evident as Marlowe sits in his office and wonders what he will do with his time. Luckily for him the phone rings to break the monotony.

Highlights from chapters XXI to XXV

* The Sherwood’s butler contacts Marlowe to tell him that having read newspaper reports about the murderers being found they assume the case is closed and will pay $500 for the trouble the detective has gone to

* Marlowe starts to become increasingly interested in what did happen to Rusty Regan so heads out to see Eddie Mars at his night club and gambling joint to find out what he knows

* Mars coughs up almost no information but Rusty’s ex-wife is gambling for high stakes and Marlowe goes through to watch her and is then on hand to protect her when a stick up man tries to get the money back she has won for the casino

* She melts in Marlowe’s arms but he continues to ask her what Eddie Mar’s has on her and so she demands he drives her home and she runs into the general’s mansion and closes the door

* The next encounter is with the younger sister Carmen who is waiting for Marlowe in his bed naked and the detective slings her out and then destroys the bed she lay on because it soils his living area

* Next is an encounter with someone who has been tailing Marlowe for two days a man who finally gets the courage to come and lay out his business which involves leading Marlowe to Mrs Mars who was meant to have fled with Rusty but in fact never managed to do so because the bootlegger had been killed by Mars

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

There is a break of sorts in this book when one side of the case is solved and on his own initiative Marlowe sets off to solve the other nagging questions surrounding the disappearance of Regan the Irish bootlegger married to one of the Sherwood daughters. That has been the case everyone thought he was on and he now embarks on it of his own volition.

Highlights from chapters XVII to XX

* Having watched Geiger’s gay lover shoot down Brody Marlowe takes him back to the house and there has to calm the man down with a couple of punches and some hand cuffs before discovering the body of Geiger has been replaced in the house

* Marlowe calls up his friend in the DA’s office and gets him to come down and clear up the mess, which involves handing the details of Geiger’s killer and Brody’s to a rather bemused and ungrateful police officer

* Having nailed those two crimes the next twist focuses on Regan the Irish bootlegging husband of one of General Sherwood’s daughters and so Marlowe calls on missing persons who reveal that the suspicion is that the Irishman ran off with the wife of a nightclub owner Eddie Mars, who incidentally owned the house Geiger lived in

Armed with that information no doubt Marlowe will now go off and do what the police have failed to be able to and find the missing Irishman. More tomorrow…

book of books - Trouble is my business

Raymond Chandler is able to deliver a combustive mixutre of strong plot and great characterisation not just once but several times in this short story collection.The usual formula of the view coming from the eyes of a detective, or former detective, is deloyed but that repetition of style does not undermine the enjiyment of this collection of stories.

As I posted a couple of days ago in an early response to The Big Sleep there is something almost akin to a feeling of guilt when you come across a book that is not only easily digestible but also enjoyable. the snob in you comes out and makes you feel like it has been a waste of time that could have been spent reading something else more 'heavyweight'. To stick to that line would be a real mistake because not only is the hard boiled detective a very popular genre (there was a piece in The Guardian about this yesterday) but it can teach a reader about what it takes to write in a style that demands the ability to maintain a level of tension and intrigue from start to finish.

There are sevral stories in the collection but just higlighting a couple will give an idea of the standard. The title story, which opens the book, is great but the Goldfish is something special and the last story are both examples of Chandler's craft.

The Goldfish

Kathy is a woman with a cocaine addicted lodger who served time in prison with a man named Sype who was responsible for a famous hold-up that stole the Leander pearls worth $200,000 and although no one ever found the pearls Sype hid them somewhere and made the mistake of telling the cocaine addict while they were serving together and so Kathy turns up at Carmady’s office, a detective friend and asks his advice.

The insurance company has a reward of $25,000 on offer for the return of the pearls and so she tells Carmady that the lodger knows where they are so he pops round to see him only to discover a murder victim who had his feet burn with an iron. He then gets called by the murderers, a ruthless girl and a dodgy business man, who need Carmady because they failed to get the information out of their victim before he died.

Soon the knowledge is shared that the character with the pearls is a goldfish loving old man who is now living in Canada and Carmady and the two killers set off independently to track him down. Carmady meets the cocaine addicts partner and they are about to head off and stake out Sype’s house when the other two turn up and after another killing Carmady manages to fool them and heads off to meet the old criminal and after a shoot out Carmady guesses that the pearls are hidden in a fish and he manages to work it out and leave the house with a dead Sype, injured and dead mudering duo and a bitter wife who watched her fortune dissapear.

Guns at Cyrano’s
The last story in the collection differs from most of the usual Chandler stories with the hint of romance.

It focuses on an ex detective who seems to be the son of someone who was very well connected in the town, Ted Malvern, comes across a woman in a doorway who has been hit in the face. After talking to her it turns out that her boyfriend is a boxer who is meant to throw a fight and he is being warned off by his backer who is concerned the fighter will not play ball. Malvern seems to know everyone and heads off to see the fight which is not thrown because the rival is so bad that the fight just cannot be thrown and Malvern heads backstage to warn the fighter that he is now going to be in trouble.

The fighter has a bodyguard who ends up in a fight with Malvern and then after they break apart all of the interested parties head to Cyrano’s night club where the boxer and his singer girlfriend are held up in a booth which results in the stick up man being shot by the boxer and then being taken by the police. Back at the apartment block Malvern heads to the girl’s room and tells her he has to speak to her but they get on badly and he decides to leave but is confronted by two armed men who take him to a criminal’s hideout. Once there it turns out the girl is blackmailing a senator trying to make him believe she is his daughter and because the senator is in the pocket of the criminal he dislikes the idea but after an argument, which Malvern loses with a punch to the jaw, they are all bundled in a car and taken to the senator’s house

Once there they confront the old man and claim that the blackmailing will stop but Drago the boxer, who has been sprung from police custody, takes a dislike for him and is shot for his trouble and then the criminal turns on the senator and shoots him. Back in the apartment block the girl tells Malvern she is leaving and he replies that his whole life has been based on dodgy money and that he will be around if she wants to be with him despite her blackmailing attempt.

Is it well written?
There is something confident about the writing that is similar to the lead characters and in the same way that you feel James Bond will not be let down by Ian Fleming. Howver many guns are pointed at the lead he will survive and no matter how off the pace he appears he always manages to nail the criminal comings and goings. It is a smooth and enjoyable ride reading Chandler and even if he is going to be classed as pulp fiction then at least he is one of the masters and not one of the numerous imitators that followed in his wake.

Should it be read?
If you have read any Chandler then it's not so much a case of should it be read as can you avoid reading it? Chandler's books are addictive in quality and once you start from either this collection or one of his novels it is only a matter of time before you get round to consuming this collection. For anybody looking for a literary escape from the rigours of the world for a spell that starts the minute you read the first line then this along with all Chandler's works delivers and deserves to be read.

Version read - Penguin paperback

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

There just was no time yesterday to do any reading in my lunch break but I have managed to squeeze some in today while the boys watched Scooby Doo. The reason why Chandler is such a good choice for a quick read in between other activities is because you are very quickly into the action and you can block other distractions - like Shaggy and Scooby – without as much concentration as you might need for something like Life A User’s Manual.

Highlights between chapters X to XVI

* With the victims piling up, first the smutty bookseller Geiger and then Owen the Sherwood’s chauffeur, the number of suspects is also increasing and after the nude picture turns up with blackmail demand Marlowe starts to pursue that lead

* First of all he goes back to the bookstore and notices that the stock is being removed and follows it until he discovers that it has been taken to the home of a J. Brody, who was one of the original Sherwood blackmailers

* The girl in the nude photograph Carmen tells Marlowe that Brody killed Geiger and that then forces the detective to follow on with that lead but before he gets a chance he is caught with the girl at Geiger’s house by Mr Mars who owns the house and wants to know what is going on

* Marlowe manages to get away from him and his luger without giving too much away and then heads over to see Brody who is hiding out with the receptionist from the Geiger bookstore and acts tough with a gun to try and get Marlowe to hand over money for the picture

* But Brody denies murder and reveals that it was the chauffeur who shot Geiger and then they had a tussle when Brody tried to get the photo but they are interrupted by Carmen who comes armed looking for the photo herself and then after she has gone the doorbell rings again but this time it is death for Brody as he is shot by the boy from the bookstore who believes he is avenging Geiger’s murder

More tomorrow…

In praise of Chandler

One of the things about reading Raymond Chandler is that there is a nagging voice at the back of your head that keeps telling you that what you are reading is not as valuable as Dostoyevsky for example.

The truth is that because of the way you are fed literature from school onwards there is this inbuilt snobbery about the pecking order of certain authors. As a result Chandler gets pigeon holed as a pulp fiction writer and nothing more.

But having now read a bit of his work the come back has to be that it is unfair to dismiss him because there are certain things he does that are really worth mentioning.

Firstly, he has this fantastic ability to nail characters with Philip Marlowe being the most obvious example of that. Okay you could say that he is pretty two dimensional but that ignores the fact that he is capable of showing fear, tenderness and anger as well as projecting a professional image that is cool and hard.

Secondly, the dialogue adds to that image and makes the books so enjoyable to read. In Bond type fashion there are lots of one liners that bring an instant smile to your face and remind you why reading can be enjoyable.

Thirdly, the plot is so well delivered. It grows like roots from a tree going off in various directions before coming back to an end point that you usually have not seen coming until almost the last minute.

Overall the moral of being a reader sitting down and enjoying Chandler is that if a book is good enough enjoy it and don’t assume that there is nothing of value in something that can be described as pulp fiction.

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

The normally masterful Marlowe is in the dark about the events that are happening all around him and it is great reading along because just like him you have almost no idea what will happen next.

Highlights from chapters III to XI

* Having been recruited to find the blackmailer Geiger and find out what he wants from the Sherwood family Marlowe discovers by trailing one of his customers that he is dealing in erotic books

* He waits and finally picks up the trial of Geiger and follow shim home and then waits because he gets a sixth sense that something else is going to happen and sure enough some shots are fired and Marlowe ends up breaking into the house

“Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead.”

* Geiger is dead with three shots and the Sherwood daughter is naked on the couch having her photo taken she is drugged and totally unaware of what has happened around her so Marlow tidies up and finds a book with a list of Geiger’s customers

* Marlowe takes her home after discovering that there is no film left in the camera and then after dropping her off heads back but discovers after letting himself back into the house that the place has been tidied up and the body has gone

* There is no mention of the death in the papers and he is called by a friend in the DA’s office who tells him that the Sherwood’s car has been found in a lake and sure enough when they get there the chauffeur is inside dead

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Big Sleep

"I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.”

So opens The Big Sleep, a book which was made even more famous by the Humphrey Bogart starring film. It is one of the Chandler must-reads that made his name and helped established Philip Marlowe as a literary character.

Because of work commitments it has not been possible to make anything more than a very brief start to the book.

Highlights from the first couple of chapters

Marlowe goes to call on a rich and elderly general who is being blackmailed by someone looking to settle his daughter’s gambling debts but this is not the first case of blackmail and he seems to have a problem with his two daughters being irresponsible with money and men

One of his daughters was married to an Irish bootlegger who upped and vanished a couple of weeks before Marlowe’s visit and there perhaps could be a connection with him and the trouble

More, hopefully much more, tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

Numerous things going on today so this is very delayed. Came home late from a couple of meetings to be confronted with some problems with broadband but looks okay now so here is the last chunk of the Chandler.

The book finishes in a different way from most of the usual Chandler stories with the hint of romance. The plot unravels like an onion with the girl rather than the boxer being at the core of it and the hero Malvern is in the dark about the exact details until almost the very end.

Highlights from the second half of Guns at Cyrano’s

* Having failed to throw the fight Trago the boxer shoots dead someone threatening him in Cyrano’s night club and is hauled off down the police station to face questioning but Malvern thinks things are fishy but walks out of the club to find his friend and car gone

* He wanders to a taxi rank gets home and then discovers the bell hop Tony is dead after having been shot tailing the boxer’s bodyguard who seems to have been in on the scam to fix the fight

* Malvern heads to the girl’s room and tells her he has to speak to her but they get on badly and he decides to leave but is confronted by two armed men who take him to a criminal’s hideout

* Once there it turns out the girl is blackmailing a senator trying to make him believe she is his daughter and because the senator is in the pocket of the criminal he dislikes the idea but after an argument, which Malvern loses with a punch to the jaw, they are all bundled in a car and taken to the senator’s house

* Once there they confront the old man and claim that the blackmailing will stop but Drago the boxer, who has been sprung from police custody, takes a dislike for him and is shot for his trouble and then the criminal turns on the senator and shoots him

* Back in the apartment block the girl tells Malvern she is leaving and he replies that his whole life has been based on dodgy money and that he will be around if she wants to be with him despite her blackmailing attempt

A review of the collection will follow shortly…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

The last story in this collection is slightly longer than most of the rest and as a consequence is going to be consumed over two days. Admittedly the original intention was to read this over the weekend but I find it increasingly difficult to do any reading when I am not on a train coming to and from work or going to a meeting.

Highlights from the first half of Guns at Cyrano’s

* An ex detective who seems to be the son of someone who was very well connected in the town, Ted Malvern, comes across a woman in a doorway who has been hit in the face

* After talking to her it turns out that her boyfriend is a boxer who is meant to throw a fight and he is being warned off by his backer who is concerned the fighter will not play ball

* Malvern seems to know everyone and heads off to see the fight which is not thrown because the rival is so bad that the fight just cannot be thrown and Malvern heads backstage to warn the fighter that he is now going to be in trouble

* The fighter has a bodyguard who ends up in a fight with Malvern and then after they break apart all of the interested parties head to Cyrano’s night club where the boxer and his singer girlfriend are held up in a booth which results in the stick up man being shot by the boxer

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

Chandler makes assumptions about people that are true whatever end of the social spectrum you are – that you will be motivated above all else by money. As a result his leading characters talk and respond to most situations with a knowing contempt for people whether they are criminals, business men or landed gentry. It is a technique that adds to the air of confidence and invulnerability of his private detective leading men.

Highlights from The Goldfish

* Kathy is a woman with a cocaine addicted lodger who served time in prison with a man named Sype who was responsible for a famous hold-up that stole the Leander pearls worth $200,000

* No one ever found the pearls but Sype hid them somewhere and made the mistake of telling the cocaine addict while they were serving together and so Kathy turns up at Carmady’s office, a detective friend and asks his advice

* The insurance company has a reward of $25,000 on offer for the return of the pearls and so she tells Carmady that the lodger knows where they are so he pops round to see him only to discover a murder victim who had his feet burn with an iron

* He then gets called by the murderers, a ruthless girl and a dodgy business man, who need Carmady because they failed to get the information out of their victim before he died

* Soon the knowledge is shared that the character with the pearls is a goldfish loving old man who is now living in Canada and Carmady and the two killers set off independently to track him down

* Carmady meets the cocaine addicts partner and they are about to head off and stake out Sype’s house when the other two turn up and after another killing Carmady manages to fool them and heads off to meet the old criminal

* Sype is a hard man who after listening to Carmady pulls a gun and is about to shoot when the girl and accomplice turn up and in the confusion the girl is shot by Sype’s wife and Sype is gunned down by her accomplice

* As he is dying Sype tells his wife “the moors” and Carmady works out that he means the Chinese Moor fish and inside two of them are the pearls but at the end while they wait for the police the wife tries to con Carmady out of them and he sees through her and then has a vision of the $25,000 he and Kathy will share

Final story in the collection comes over the weekend and then there is going to have to be more Chandler because he is too addictive…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

A different voice in this story with the house detective in a hotel being the lead character rather than Dalmas. As a result the action is confined to the hotel, its guests, staff and grounds. It makes for a tight story that Chandler sets up to have various possible endings.

Highlights from I’ll be Waiting

* A house detective in a hotel takes a shine to a female guest who reveals she is waiting for a man to arrive who she ended up putting in prison for four years and she is hoping for an opportunity for reconciliation

* After talking to her the detective is called to the door to meet someone named Al who tells him to get the girl out of the hotel because the man she is waiting for owes money to some criminals who want to collect their debt

* Instead of warning the woman the detective discovers that the man she is waiting for has turned up and is in the room next to her so he heads up there to warn him and give him the chance to escape

* After heading back down stairs and checking with the garage attendant that the man has escaped he settles back into the radio room where the woman, who cannot sleep has reappeared, but he is called to the phone to be told that Al knew he would give the man a chance and they have tracked him down

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

As long as there is an address to visit, a lead to follow or a punch to be taken Chandler keeps the plot growing almost organically until he pulls it altogether. For those people who don’t think the short story is a good genre then this will prove them wrong. Over 55 pages Chandler weaves a magic spell that ends with you wanting to plough straight into the next short story.

One comment I could have made yesterday but is equally applicable today is the sense of time. Chandler packs a huge amount in just a few hours and it is hard to credit that some of it has happened on the same night.

Highlights from Red Wind

* Private detective John Dalmas pops over to a bar opposite his apartment block and is talking to the barman who has recently opened while a drunk at the other end of the bar keeps ordering drinks

* Suddenly a man walks in and asks if anyone has seen a woman and as he is leaving the drunk shoots him twice fatally and then runs out into the dead man’s car and heads off leaving Dalmas and the bartender to call the police

* After reporting the events Dalmas heads back to the apartment and as he exits the lift stumbles across the woman that fits the description given by the man who has just been shot in the bar

* She reveals very little and in a discussion about the shooting they are suddenly disturbed by the killer who has come back to shoot Dalmas to prevent him from being a witness

* Hidden in the closet the woman steps out at just the right time to save Dalmas’s life and after she leaves he calls the cops and a glory seeking policeman comes to pick up the killer and arrange it with Dalmas that he takes all the credit

* The woman reappears and asks Dalmas to help track down some pearls that the dead man was meant to be selling to her so the private eye heads to the apartment and discovers a dead man but no pearls

* The latest victim leads Dalmas to the husband of the woman seeking the pearls and reveals that the bar corpse was blackmailing both husband and wife before being killed by an old criminal partner he had grassed up for a prison sentence

* In a final showdown with the crooked policeman and his saner colleague Dalmas sets out the case and answers all the queries before succumbing himself to the madness caused by the red wind throwing the pearls one by one into the sea

Another story tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

This is a real pleasure to read and you are rooting for John Dalmas throughout enjoying it when he rides his luck and smiling at his wise cracks. Chandler has the ability to create a world (that is often set at night) where the lines between good and bad are blurred almost completely and the winners are those that live to fight another day with their integrity intact.

Highlights from the second half of Trouble is my business

* Having been picked up by the driver for the client who has hired him and witnessed the shooting of the younger of the two gun men who held him up in his flat earlier Dalmas heads back to the hotel to visit the girl at the centre of the commotion

* She isn't there but the gambler her boyfriend owes money to is and after threatening Dalmas he tells him that he would have not authorised the shooting of either the car Dalmas was in or the detective he had discovered dead earlier

* Dalmas is left in the hotel room alone and investigates in the bedroom and discovers his client's son dead in the wardrobe but leaves him there and heads home and meets the police who have been tipped off that he was involved in the earlier shooting

* Dalmas comes out of it clean and then after encountering the now lone gunman who he handcuffs to his bed he heads for a showdown with the client and a chance to break it to him about his son and discovers on arriving at his house that the dame has already arrived

* Dalmas outlines his theory which you are in suspense over along with the other three characters in the room and it turns out that the killer is George the driver who hoped to be made an heir to his master's millions once the real heir was out of the way

* The ending includes a trip to the Police station, some dates with the woman and a couple more chances to use the line "Trouble is my business"

Great stuff and more comes tomorrow...

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

When you pick up a Raymond Chandler novel you know that three things are certain: the case will never be a simple as it seems, the way the story is told will be fantastic and along the way there are going the be bribes threats and death.

This is a short story collection (not too short) and the title piece is the first one and the immortal lines there might be trouble to which the reply “trouble is my business” is uttered.

Highlights from the first half of Trouble is my business

* Private eye John Dalmas is hired to try and get a wealthy man’s son away from a relationship with a woman that has connections with a gambler that the young man owes money to

* Dalmas is sub-contracted from another investigator that hasn’t got the energy to pursue the case and he is referred to the other detective who she had hired to work on collecting background

"I need a man good-looking enough to pick up a dame with a sense of class, but he's got to be tough enough to swap punches with a power shovel."

* The other detective turns up dead and that forces Dalmas to get acquainted with the main characters more quickly than he might have chosen to and he is rewarded with being knocked down out by the gambling son

* On returning home two men with guns are waiting for Dalmas and they warn him off the case but fail to give any other information leaving the detective intrigued about all the fuss that is being made

More tomorrow…

book of books - The High Window

Certain books come with preconceptions that can help as well as hinder a reader’s appetite and most of the time Hollywood is the cause of establishing the image for a book. That is certainly the case with Raymond Chandler’s private detective Philip Marlowe who before you even get to the end of the first page is hard not to see as Humphrey Bogart.

But focusing on the trilby, Macintosh with the lapels pulled up and pistol toting image of a private detective is relatively one dimensional and one of the biggest surprises in The High Window is the various moods and attitudes that Marlowe takes making it a more rounded personality and the way the plot develops is complex and inventive.

Plot summary
Hired by a rich and grumpy widow to find out if her daughter-in-law stole a famous coin from her deceased husband’s collection Marlowe heads off to find the girl and the coin. But very quickly the scale of his enquiries expand as he discovers that not only is the coin being used as a model for a fraudulent scam but his employer has a few secrets that she has not shared. With the coin dealer, a fellow detective hired to find out about the coin and the man behind the scam all dead Marlowe is left with the police against him and his employer failing to share the information he needs to close the case. What seals it is the evidence that Marlowe finds in a blackmailers room that links his employer with the death of her husband and the persecution of her secretary, who Marlowe finally helps escape into the more peaceful world of Kansas.

That might well sound confused and rambling and the reason for that is that firstly the plot is so crucial to a crime novel it seems a shame to spell it all out; and secondly the plot develops organically and in numerous directions making it difficult to wrap up in a single paragraph.

Is it well written?
It is of its time with the language and cars being of a set period in the late forties and early 1950s. But put that to one side and the human emotions are as valid as today and the tension is gripping in places. What carries the book through is the strong character of Marlowe who is fascinating and sometimes borders on the unliveable with his wisecracks and persistent willingness to rub people up the wrong way. The final addition to strong character is the plot that develops in ways that you cannot predict but it subtle enough to get the reader in on Marlowe’s world.

Should it be read?
The only reason not to is if you can’t stand the crime novel genre. Otherwise if you have mot read any Chandler before then it is a great introduction to a world of liars, rich gangsters and dames looking for fame. The book has a pace that helps it skip along and as has already mentioned the plot is far from predictable making it more enjoyable. There are also some great lines in the book that will make you laugh and want to store away to mimic later on.

Summary
Tough talking private detective cracks the case he was never hired for and saves a woman from a life of misery

Version read – Penguin paperback

Lunchtime read: The High Window

“’All right,’ he said wearily. ‘Get on with it. I have a feeling you are going to be very brilliant. Remorseless flow of logic and intuition and all that rot. Just like a detective in a book.’”

The lunchtime read of last week comes to an end with a great scene where Marlowe reveals the entire series of events to not quite the person you expected and then not only solves the crime he was hired for but a fair few others on the way. As an introduction to Chandler it has been great, not just because of the style, but also because this is not The Big Sleep or Trouble is my Business, which conjure up images of old black and white Hollywood classics.

Highlights between chapters twenty-six to thirty-six

* Hoping to track down the missing dentist Marlowe discovers he has done a runner and after some research guesses it’s because he has used his dentist technician skills to formulate false coins

* Then things take a different turn with Marlowe being phoned at his office to be told by his building manager that there is a woman there to see him, Merle Mrs Murdock’s secretary, and she appears to be in quite a state

* He rushes over to be confronted with a woman who claims she has killed Vannier and then faints so Marlowe calls a doctor and heads over to find the blackmailer dead but not by her handiwork and discovers he had been blackmailing Mrs Murdock for eights years because he knows she pushed her husband out of a high window to his death

* Marlowe heads back to his home and then goes off to see Mrs Murdock to explain what has happened to Merle and explain she isn’t coming back to work for her again and as he leaves the old woman without an argument after he confronts her with a few home truths he has a showdown with the son

* In response to a line about whether or not this is the bit he shows off his detective deducing Marlowe sets out the entire story – who killed who and why – and decimates not just the son’s defences but those of the Murdock family

* He then heads off to take Merle back to her parents in Kansas but before she goes he tells her it was Mrs Murdock who pushed her husband out of the window and not her, despite the years of manipulation making it seem that way

* On his return from helping Merle he calls on the police who seem to have reached most of the right conclusions in the case, except for the Murdock’s who remain untouched, but as they were his clients Marlowe owes them indifference if nothing else

A full review will follow shortly…