There are countless Raymond Chandler courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
- The Big Sleep (A Philip Marlowe Novel) (1988)
- The Long Goodbye (1988)
- The High Window (1988)
- Farewell, My Lovely (1988)
- Trouble Is My Business (1988)
- The Little Sister (1988)
- The Lady in the Lake (1988)
- The Simple Art of Murder (Pocket #50086) (1964)
- Playback (1988)
- The Annotated Big Sleep (2018)
- A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler (2016)
- The Big Sleep (2018)
- Poodle Springs (1990)
The Big Sleep (A Philip Marlowe Novel) (1988)
A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.
The Long Goodbye (1988)
In noir master Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, Philip Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, whom he divorced and remarried and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
The High Window (1988)
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.
Farewell, My Lovely (1988)
Philip Marlowe’s about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.
Trouble Is My Business (1988)
This collection by crime fiction master Raymond Chandler features four long stories in which private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to protect a rich old guy from a gold digger, runs afoul of crooked politicos, gets a line on some stolen jewels with a reward attached, and stumbles across a murder victim who may have been an extortionist.
The Little Sister (1988)
In noir master Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister, a movie starlet with a gangster boyfriend and a pair of siblings with a shared secret lure private eye Philip Marlowe into the less than glamorous and more than a little dangerous world of Hollywood fame. Chandler’s first foray into the industry that dominates the company town that is Los Angeles.
The Lady in the Lake (1988)
In The Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives—one a rich man’s and one a poor man’s—who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe’s investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead.
The Simple Art of Murder (Pocket #50086) (1964)
This is a book that is not to be missed by Chandler fans. Unlike most other Chandler books, this is not merely a detective story. Chandler here writes an essay called “The Simple Art of Murder,” followed by 8 short stories each involving an LA based private detective, but each leading male protagonist with a different personality.
Playback (1988)
In noir master Raymond Chandler’s Playback, Philip Marlowe is hired by an influential lawyer he’s never heard of to tail a gorgeous redhead, but then decides he’d rather help out the redhead. She’s been acquitted of her alcoholic husband’s murder, but her father-in-law prefers not to take the court’s word for it.
The Annotated Big Sleep (2018)
A masterpiece of noir, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep helped to define a genre. Today it remains one of the most celebrated and stylish novels of the twentieth century. This comprehensive, annotated edition offers a fascinating look behind the scenes of the novel, bringing the gritty and seductive world of Chandler’s iconic private eye Philip Marlowe to life.
A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler (2016)
The life of Raymond Chandler has long been obscured by secrets and half-truths as deceptive as anything in his novel The Long Goodbye. Now, drawing on new interviews, previously unpublished letters, and archives, Tom Williams casts a new light on this mysterious writer, a man troubled by loneliness and desertion. It was only during middle age, after his alcoholism wrecked a lucrative career as an oilman, that Chandler seriously turned to crime fiction.
The Big Sleep (2018)
The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978.The story is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing each other and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative.
Poodle Springs (1990)
When died in 1959, he left behind the first four chapters of a new Philip Marlowe thriller. Now three decades later, , the bestselling creator of the Spenser detective novels, has completed in a full-length masterpiece of criminal passion. Philip Marlowe is alive and well and living in Poodle Springs, California. He’s married to a wealthy heiress now.
Best Raymond Chandler Books Worth Your Attention
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some raymond chandler books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Only to Sleep: A Philip Marlowe Novel
Author(s): Lawrence Osborne; Raymond Chandler
ID: 2296030, Publisher: Hogarth Press, Year: 2018, Size: 540 Kb, Format: azw3
Swedish Marxist Noir: The Dark Wave of Crime Writers and the Influence of Raymond Chandler
Author(s): Per Hellgren
ID: 3115829, Publisher: McFarland, Year: 2018, Size: 2 Mb, Format: pdf
Hard-Boiled anxiety: the Freudian desires of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, and their detectives
Author(s): Karydes, Karen Huston
ID: 2708253, Publisher: Secant Publishing, LLC, Year: 2016, Size: 2 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are really best-sellers according to Los Angeles Times, others are drafted by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.