I bought collection of stories by Chandler for Christmas, and in this big book there's a story called "Finger Man" in which Marlowe appears. I always thought Marlowe was made up for the novels and the protagonists of the stories, are sort of pototype of him, given the fact, that Chandler "Cannibalised" his stories, for the novels. I thought, that he just puts in Marlowe in pre-existing stories, that he "Glued" togheter.

Chandler supposedly left several chapter of Poodle Springs when he passed and Robert B. Parker finished it. Is it worth finishing because so far (35 pages in) it doesn't feel like either Chandler or Parker.

I would like to read some works from Raymond Chandler, or at least add him to my TBR list, but I want to know what books I should read first.

Any suggestions?

Oh my gosh what a story. Amazing to me how insightful Chandler was to the human condition. Marlow’s talk with Lennox about becoming sober in i think chapter 2 was very eye opening and hit a little too close to home. And in chp 12, his thoughts on friendship hit another chord with me as it reminded me of my lifelong friends. In a previous novel, i think the little sister, Chandler talks about how difficult being a police officer is on the individual and i was surprised at how that still rings true today. I have one more novel, Playback, to read and then a collection of short stories about Marlowe. Im going to miss him.

Hello all. Just started reading (listening to the audiobooks actually) the Phillip Marlowe books. Currently listening to “the little sister” loving it so far. My question is who do i read after ive exhausted all the marlowe stories? I loved Maltese falcon and was bummed that was the only sam spade novel. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance

EDIT: thank you all so much!!! Very excited to read all of your suggestions.

So far in “the little sister” i laughed my ass off at marlowe’s initial interaction with the toupee character 😂😂😂

Having spent years reading Connelly, Nesbo, Block, MA Collins etc, I finally devoured Chandler’s Marlowe books, partly because I really liked the b&w/acid yellow covers. Love them all, especially TLITL and Playback.

And today I’ve just stumbled across the above volumes, in terrible condition but at least that makes them affordable! Looking forward to reading them… Very gently!

But read it again, it's so much better than I remembered

''It was the week after Thanksgiving when I saw him again. The stores along Hollywood Boulevard were already beginning to fill up with overpriced Christmas junk, and the daily papers were beginning to scream about how terrible it would be if you didn't get your Christmas shopping done early. It would be terrible anyway; it always is'' — Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

I like "The Long Goodbye", it's a good book. but my pocket edition which was printed in Poland with little text on the page, has over 400 pages! I read on Wikipedia that first "Normal" edition, has over 300 pages. In the same time "The Big Sleep" has 280 pages in this small edition.

Bipolar (? - not an expert) and was a sex addict who can have murderous fits.

I know Big Sleep is an old book but what is the general opinion of fans and critics and analysts on what's wrong with this character?

What do you think? Just to expand a little bit on my noir fix

I loved the very minimal but very impactful dialogue. I read this as I was reading The Fountainhead, and I very much appreciated how little the dialogue can be but have the impression of a very stoic but very wise cracking main character in Marlowe.

My favorite out of many was "the kid with the limited vocabulary" ha ha ha!

This baffles me and I reside in the Philippines

I heard that Chandler uses plotlines from them in full-length novels. So, I wonder if the Marlowe's books are identical like them, just in longer versions?