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Loading... The Simple Art of Murder (original 1950; edition 1988)by Raymond Chandler (Author)
Work InformationThe Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler (1950)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Chandler's in my top 3 or 4 crime fiction authors. Who the other 2 or 3 are will become obvious as I continue thru the mysteries that I've read (not that I expect anyone to care!). This is a collection of short stories & I prefer novels - hence the "3". Chandler's one of the few mystery writers to really impress me w/ his prose, w/ his turns of phrase. Sometimes the writing jogs my mind much more than pulp usually does. The writing gets outside of clichés w/ stunning placement of slang & a deep feeling for character. My only criticism of Chandler is that he praised himself over Hammett. Hammett, for me, will probably always be the 'best' writer in this genre (although Ellroy is a recent prime contender). This book takes its title from the first of five entries. Rather than a short story, it is an essay by Raymond Chandler giving his defining opinion on the art of the myster. Chandler critiques some well k own mysteries and characters: “The Red House Mystery: by A.A. Milne (Milne’s only mystery), Dorothy Sayer’s “Busman’s Holiday,” authors Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett and others of the genre. It is an interesting read with the comparisons and his perspective of the subject of mystery writers and their books. The next three stories are along the usual lines that Chandler is known for: a cop who is set up in a frame and finds he has to be the one to untangle the net around him. Two stories take place in hotels, involving the hotel detectives and some questionable guests. The fourth one is more along the lines of P.G. Wodehouse. Walter, the main character, speaks in in a very educated manner, seems to have pots of money and time to spare. He receives a call, one morning, from Ellen Macintosh, his fianceé. She is nurse to Mrs. Penruddock, a very wealthy widow. It seems Mrs. Penruddock’s pearl necklace has been stolen and the suspect is a chauffeur who worked for Mrs. Penruddock for a few months and suddenly left. Ellen feels that Walter should be able to find the suspect and get the pearls back and not involve the police. It seems the pearls are fake and Ellen doesn’t want it known and embarrass Mrs. Penruddock. Walter manages to locate the chauffeur, one Mr. Henry Eichelberger. His excuse for looking Eichelberger up is that Eichelberger tried to kiss Ellen and Walter plans to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This meeting is the start of a madcap series of events as the two men work together to recover the stolen pearls. Shades of Bertie and Jeeves! This is a collection of eight stories by the master of hard-boiled fiction, Raymond Chandler: two short novellas, five novelettes and a short story proper. If you like that genre even a bit, this is a can't miss collection. It's full of tough guys and floozies and the consumption of unimaginable amounts of whiskey. There's always a body or two that shows up full of lead, or in one of the stories, "Nevada gas", which seems to be a euphemism for hydrogen cyanide, the stuff of gas-chamber executions. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesLibro amigo [Bruguera] (700) ContainsDistinctionsNotable Lists
In The Simple Art of Murder, which was prefaced by the famous Atlantic Monthly essay of the same name, noir master Raymond Chandler argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detective novel, and this collection, mostly drawn from stories he wrote for the pulps, demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facility with the form. Included are the classic stories "Spanish Blood," Pearls Are a Nuisance," and "Guns at Cyrano's," among others. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Like all men of action Henry Eichelberger came away with his fist doubled. "What was that crack?" he snarled. "Oh, yeah. Hi, Walter. How you feel?" ( )