Recommended reading - Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels (1995):

Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels (1995).

Anthology by Raymond Chandler.

Edited by Frank MacShane.

ISBN-10: 1883011078

ISBN-13: 978-1883011079

Contents:

Pulp Stories: Blackmailers Don’t Shoot; Smart-Aleck Kill; Finger Man; Nevada Gas; Spanish Blood; Guns at Cyrano’s; Pick-Up on Noon Street; Goldfish; Red Wind; The King in Yellow; Pearls Are a Nuisance; Trouble Is My Business; I’ll Be Waiting. Novels: The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window. Chronology. Note on the texts. Notes.

Description:

In Raymond Chandler’s hands, the pulp crime story became a haunting mystery of power and corruption, set against a modern cityscape both lyrical and violent. With humor, and an unerring sense of dialogue and the telling detail, he created a fictional universe out of the dark side of aunlit Los Angeles. In the process, he transformed both the crime novel and American writing.

Stories and Early Novels includes the first three novels featuring Chandler’s great creation, private eye Philip Marlowe: tough, disillusioned, and sensitive. In The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, and The High Window, Marlowe’s investigations lead him from Los Angeles shanties and honkytonks to the highest reaches of power, encountering a world of gangsters and crooked politicians, lost souls and small-time operators. Thirteen stories from the pulp magazines Black Mask and Dime Detective include such classics as “Red Wind” and “Trouble Is My Business.” This volume, with its companion, Later Novels & Other Writings, comprises the most comprehensive edition available of America’s greatest mystery writer.

The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to preserving the works of America’s greatest writers in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts.