Product Description
Aesop's fables present examples of selfishness turned to generosity, deception evolving into honor, and gloom unfolding to pleasure. Celebrity readers include Ellen Barkin, Glenda Jackson, Sharon Stone, and Michael York. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Star-Studded
Performers:
Eddie Albert, Stephanie Beacham, Harvey Fierstein, Elliott Gould, Joel Grey, Gregory Hines, Kevin McCarthy, Vanessa Redgrave, Jean Stapleton, Ernie Hudson, Glenda Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Kevin McCarthy, Cathy Moriarty, Sharon Stone, Burt Reynolds, Rod Steiger, Alfred Woodard, Michael York, Ephram Zimbalist, Jr.
Original poems and introduction written by Judith Cummings.

If you like straight Aesop's fables, this is ok
This is a CD of straight Aesop's fables followed by the narrator trying to turn the moral into common language. Aesop's read better than they listen - at least for me. My kids really didn't like it because the stories are short (only about 1 minute) and the "real life applications" didn't make sense to them or me. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it unless you just want somebody to read the stories to you. ... Read more

Product Description
Everyone listens to Howard Stern, from trash collectors to CEOs. Stern's popularity knows no bounds--his radio show is syndicated nationwide, he is a best-selling author, and host of annual pay-per-view extravaganzas. Now, Paul Colford, acclaimed Rush Limbaugh biographer and radio columnist for Newsday, chronicles the rise of the king of shock jocks from his humble beginnings to his battles with the FCC, his fascination with transcendental meditation and obsession with sex! 2 cassettes.Amazon.com Review
Howard Stern talks about himself on his syndicated radio show5 days a week, 4 hours a day. Howard Stern already has published twobest-selling books based on his life and career. This leaves verylittle of interest for the author to say about Stern who, after all,is popular partly because he blabs so freely about his own (married)sex life and the mundane humiliations of his past. Colford flips thecoin and bets the reader will be interested to hear how NORMAL and NOTshocking the shock-jock's life really is. Some will be more interestedthan others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Confidence Is Being Bold Enough To Be Yourself!
America has been known the bastion where you have a right to be different if you have the confidence to stay with your beliefs in the face of societal ridicule. Pioneers end up two ways, some find prosperity by starting new paths, and some end up with arrows in their backs. After reading this book, Howard Stern is a Pioneer that prospers due to his will to be different and confident at work and in life.

It was a joy reading an unbiased book on Howard Stern. I enjoyed his radio show once in awhile but admit I have had to tune it out and off now and then too. The book gave interesting information on the salaries of his staff and inner workings of Radio and TV Stations and how programs acquire airtime.

I agree with author who never trashes Howard Stern but actually gives a good picture of him and his struggles to being a Top Radio personality. I admire Howard's sheer determination to work hard at job, support his family and talk about anything.

I really enjoyed learning how the Stations Sponsors who advertised on his show were impressed with his professionalism and interest in knowing and learning everything about their products and services they were selling. This is a true mark of an honest man living up to his job as a professional.

I was surprised to learn that Infinity did pay off his FCC fines to avoid problems with a merger later. I feel Howard has been a pioneer with the airwaves and first amendment issues to the public benefit not to anyone's detriment.

Since losing his marriage and wife as well as Jackie the Joke Man it is not the same show. But is still entertaining. I now use it as one of three stations I use walking in the morning. I find National Public Radio more enlightening, Jim Quinn for more thoughtful and Howard and crew interesting and delightful on entertainment issues of our day.

In the end, Howard learn to be confident in his own ideas, own behavior and always paid attention to his sponsors, people who helped him and mutual friends and professionals. I believe having supreme confidence in you like Howard Stern demonstrates every day. Those seeking to banish him just need to tune him out or off, but not remove him in anyway

Howard Stern : King of All Media.
It pretty much is a factual account of Howard Stern's life from his childhood days to his days in Detroit and WNBC radio. Nothing risque is really discussed. I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a viewpoint of Howard's life other than Howard. The author neither supportsor chastises Stern, but presents the facts without any bias one way or theother, and that's nice to see in journalism. It's definitely worth checkingout.

Good insights into Stern's history.
I found this book to be informative to Stern's rise to fame and fortune.Nothing really groundbreaking or unbelieveable, just the facts.A very quick, but honest look at Howard's personal life.How he keeps everyone atbay and tries to isolate himself from the world at this house, which isunderstandable.Private Parts offers more humor, but a lot of the samestuff, of course.

For the Howard Stern fan who has everything -- almost.
I found Paul Colford's book interesting, well-written, and entertaining.I have all of Howard Stern's books, videos, CDs, and a large collections of magazine articles and such.King of All Media is a nice addition to my collection.But don't take my word for it.Go to the nearest bookstore and check it out for yourself.Then get online and order it for less $$ from amazon.com. ... Read more

Product Description
In the four long stories in this collection, 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

a mixed bag of 1930s detective stories...
As other reviews have noted, 'Trouble Is My Business' is the both the name of a short story and the name of a collection of short stories by Raymond Chandler.It seems the short story collection contain differing number of stories depending on the publisher.My 1960s UK version of 'Trouble Is My Business' contains five stories including, of course, 'Trouble Is My Business'.Like all Raymond Chandler fiction, it has delicious tough guy dialogue and all sorts of nasty business going on.Sometimes the plot, even in his short stories, can be a bit muddled.But I read Raymond Chandler fiction purely for the atmosphere they project ... and not so much for the plot.Others might not find this sort of read enjoyable.


Bottom line: classic Chandler in small bites.Some taste good, others not so.

Trouble Is My Business is a collection of a quartet of stories by Raymond Chandler the inimitable master of hardboiled fiction R
Los Angeles has its muse. His name is Raymond Chandler (1888-1959)Chicago born who was raised in Great Britain. Chandler had trouble with booze and broods but he could write like an angel about the City of Angels. Vintage has published "Trouble My Business" containing four of Chandler's stories about Private Investigator Phillip Marlowe and the seedy and salacious, corrupt and cruel world he inhabited in the lost Los Angeles of the 1930s and 1940s.
The stories are:
Trouble is My Business: Marlowe is hired by Mr. Jeeter to prevent a scandal concerning his ne'er do well son and the seductive the deliciously named Harriet Huntress. Bodies litter the scene and the plot is convoluted.
Finger Man deals with scandals and political shenanigans. A complicated plot laced with murder, sassy dialogue and a difficult case for Marlowe to solve.
Goldfish- Anex-con who stole the Sol Leander diamonds worth 200,000 is tracked down by Marlowe. Wally Sipe has retired to Washington State where he enjoys tending his goldfish. Will the diamonds be recovered? Will Marlowe live to tell the tale?
Red Wind-In hot LA an adulterous woman is in deep trouble. She has to do business with a crook named Joseph Coates who has the jewelry she was given by her lover. Yet he turns up dead in a bar in a murder witnessed by Marlowe. The lady is named Lola and she is an intriguing lady. A cruel cop named Copernik enjoys roughing up Marlowe.
All of these short stories are written in the Chandler style of tough talk, good scenic description and plot twists. Blackmail plots abound. Chandler is always worthy of a reader's time andmoney for the purchase of the book. He was better at scene setting, sharp and metaphoric dialogue and character description than he was in making the plot clear to the sometimes bemused reader.

Classic Noir Novel
I love Chandler. The hard-boiled PI maybe isn't his invention and it is hard pressed to figure anyone else out that can do it better. Maybe a bit of Dashiel Hammett, Complete Novels, whose Red Harvest puts the violent films of today to miserable shame. Trouble is a collection of shorts featuring the beloved Philip Marlowe, who always seems to find himself tangled in a mess that is a mile deeper than it ever started out. The language is sparse and drove American literature a bit to the edge it became in later novels. Partly because of Chandler being a Brit and not really knowing the American dialect, he sort of made it up.

The best part of are the continuously flawed characters Chandler creates. Hollywood actors, Las Vegas gamblers, tycoons and misfits of all types swirl together in mayhem that is understated and portrays what America felt about Los Angeles and its participants of the 30's and 40's. It is timeless though. Many situations could very well happen in the Hollywood Hills of 2007. And you end up liking them all somehow. He is sympathetic but still manages to give every one a dose of the medicine they deserve. Marlowe is the morals the story and also the amoral example, in it for himself at many times.

I I had to picked this one up after Christina made funny of me for picking up the The Long Goodbye for the twentieth time.

The Alfred Hitchcock.of hard boiling
Like a classic old movie that you love in spite (or because of?) its in old black and white, the obvious back-lot sets, and no super-realistic surround sound, this collection of stories shows its age but wears it well.

If Dashiell Hammett is the D. W. Griffith of hard-boiled detective stories, Chandler is the Alfred Hitchcock.

(Kindle) Great book; bad edition
(Kindle version review) One of my favorite writers and collections, but this is a very poor format ebook. The OCR-related typos are very annoying - they aren't uniform, it's as though several pages, scattered through the book, weren't edited or checked at all. ... Read more

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VHS Tape ... Read more

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Stalking the tawdry neon wilderness of forties and fifties Los Angeles, Raymond Chandler's hard-drinking, wise-cracking Phillip Marlowe is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. "Playback" finds Marlowe mixing business with pleasure - getting paid to follow a mysterious and lovely red-head named Eleanor King. And wherever Miss King goes, trouble seems to follow. But she's easy on the eye and Marlowe's happy to do as he's told, all in the name of chivalry, of course. But one dead body later and what started out as a lazy afternoon's snooping soon becomes a deadly cocktail of blackmail, lies, mistaken identity - and murder... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Recommended for Ray's Fans
Fans of Raymond Chandler admire his terse and lyrical prose, his uncanny metaphors, and the lonely but winning integrity of Philip Marlowe, who drinks too much but solves his cases through gritty relentlessness and shrewd insight. Fans also like Chandler's deft use of devious dames, tough cops on the edge of the law, suave crime bosses, and ruthless tycoons who, behind the scenes, pull all the strings.

So what about PLAYBACK, Chandler's last novel featuring Marlowe? Well, most of these elements are in place. But PLAYBACK also shows subtle changes in Chandler's touch, which have the effect of lessening this work. As a result, I'd say this is the only Chandler novel I've read (this is my fifth) where the strong point is the plot, not the lyrical prose or Marlowe's sour heroism and decency.

The primary quality missing from PLAYBACK is Ray's lyrical voice. Hard to say what happened here. But Ray, who died the year PLAYBACK was published, gives the sharpest metaphors and best soliloquy to Henry Clarendon IV, an elderly hotel lobby-sitter who gives a thoughtful and poetic spin to hospitalization and a quiet ensuing death.

Likewise, Marlowe, while still lonely, breaks through in PLAYBACK and actually connects carnally to two female characters. But is doing so, the gas of melodrama also escapes from Phil's tough shell. "If I couldn't ever be gentle," Marlowe says, "I wouldn't deserve to be alive."

Finally, the cops, who are usually Marlowe's hard-guy adversaries, are disciplined professionals in PLAYBACK. This means there is less conversation-is-combat, as Phil works well with Captain Allessandro to clarify the situation of Betty Mayfield and the fate of dirt-bag Larry Mitchell.

Regardless, this a worthy book for Ray's fans, even if it lacks the usual zing.

And, thus, it ends...
Playback is the last of Chandler's seven Marlowe novels and it is with sadness that I complete the series.Having read the books in chronological order, it is easy to see where Chandler peaked and where he ebbed.Still, most writers should aspire to an ebbing Chandler as even his most desultory efforts are well worth the reader's time.

Marlowe is employed to tail a young woman of wealth and privilege arriving from the east coast.Her checkered past has prompted her to seek the anonymity that distance can provide.There's no such luck for the young lady, though, as blackmailers, gumshoes, and gangland goons descend on a coastal community (La Jolla, CA) to extract whatever bounty they can find.

Playback isn't the big, booming finale one might expect.One assumes Chandler meant to keep at it.Because of this, Philip Marlowe, private eye extraordinaire, noir's nemesis to LA-area crime, just sort of fades away.It's a good enough story.It's just not enough of a story to end Philip Marlowe's career.Nevertheless, I recommend that all lovers of mystery, LA history, and exceptional writing read Chandler.Playback = 4 stars, but Raymond Chandler = 5.

Rumpled, tired but still on his game
Most readers find out why Raymond Chandler earned iconic if not classical status by starting out with "The Big Sleep."I did not.I started with this, the last of his Philip Marlowe series to be published before Chandler's death.It is not a book that would alone have staked the writer's legendary reputation but it has its moments and it does a terrific job of creating an airtight world with an ethos all its own.

"Playback" gives LA private eye Philip Marlowe a case that is more difficult by reason of its simplicity.All he has to do is follow a subject and report on where she goes, with no other information supplied.The first mystery for him is why.In fact, as the cigarettes and liquor come out in force and blood begins to spill, the main question becomes, is she good or bad in the terms of a world where there are no children, no school teachers, no church workers, but there are hoods, hotel habitués, cops, arrogant lawyers, private eyes and women who are always sexually available, even in an era where a morals charge can still ruin a life.Chandler works the noirish world of a 1950's southern California resort town in off season to great effect, sorting out its code and Marlowe's way of making peace with it.

Is this dated? Not nearly as much as I thought it would be.I am not a big fan of the hard-boiled detective genre, but in Chandler's capable hands it offers interest and ideas to chew over.

Marlowe's Last Stand
This was Raymond Chandler's last novel, published before he died. It doesn't seem quite up to his earlier books. This novel is shorter in length and less rich in details about the rich and corrupt. Chandler had worked for years as a scriptwriter in Hollywood. His drinking may have flushed away his talents. This 1958 story does not have the range of contrasts in his earlier stories (not necessarily a bad thing). The monetary figures are far out of date. An $18 a day hotel room doesn't imply the luxury it did then.

Philip Marlowe receives an early morning telephone call to follow a passenger on the Super Chief. [That was an express railroad train in those bygone days.] Marlowe does this even he knows little about this job. [He needed the money?] He learns others are interested in his subject for their own reasons. Was she a murderess who got off because of a quirk in the law? [Chandler must have been talking to Erle Stanley Gardner.] Is there a nasty blackmailer pestering Eleanor King? Will somebody stop him? Marlowe has the same kind of adventures with the same kind of people that you find in his earlier works. One big difference is that middle-aged Marlowe refuses payment from a client, as if money means nothing to him! There is less violence too. In the past Marlowe suffered beatings as if Chandler was secretly angry with his fictional character. The refusal to accept payment for his work is so fantastic as to question the judgment of Chandler. Will Marlowe marry a rich heiress to live the life of Nick Charles? That was a dead-end for Dashiell Hammett. There are echoes of scenes from his earlier works. And old, rich, and sick man hired Marlowe but the ending leaves few people satisfied. Or is that the most realistic ending?

LOOKING FOR THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT
Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's classic noir hard-boiled, fundamentally honest private detective forever literarily associated with Los Angeles and its means streets is a bit off course here in his search for the inevitable exotic/diabolical `missing woman' (`dame' for the non-politically correct types) in trouble in the Hollywood film glitter mill. Old Marlowe is going uptown here, or so he is led to believe.But it seems to me that it is more than the geography that off Marlowe's beaten path here. I love Chandler as a great writer with a good ear for the West Coast American scene in the 1940's but hasn't Marlowe followed that woman, or her "sister", before in a previous novel?Except that she wasn't an actress, or had some little devilish sister from Kansas. You get my drift.Old Chandler's Marlowe is starting to run out of steam in the theme department. By the way, beware of those Kansas women; they are hell on your average California rough-and-tumble shamus.

Sure there is plenty of sparse but functional dialogue, physical action and a couple of plot twists but Marlowe needs to think about that rest home for worn-out indigent gumshoes (since he never made enough money). He has taken one too many hits on the head for the latest worthy cause. Give me those background oil derricks that sound like money churning out the wealth while looking for General Sternwood's Rusty Regan in The Big Sleep or the run down stucco flats in pursue of Moose's Velma in Farewell, My Lovely any day. However, even on his uppers as always with Chandler you get high literature in a plebeian package. Read on.
... Read more

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Five Stars!
I wish "Voices of the Shoah" was required in our school systems. It should be offered at churches as well.The personal testimonies on audio CD of the survivors in their own voices are so deeply moving. It's history but you are there as the survivors share their experiences. I was moved to tears many times. You are able to follow along in the book with it's great photos and timelines to guide you through the beginning and end of the war.
It was shocking to learn that the liberation of the camps at the end of the war resulted in confinement to displacement camps for many of the survivors. Rabbi Abraham Klausner is an amazing person and almost single handedly changed the way the displacement camps were organized. He is now one of my heroes and epitomizes the power of what one determined person can accomplish.
This is a must for every persons library who wants to learn about the Holocaust and so much more. The Audio CD and book are a great combination. ... Read more

Product Description
Her name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or least ways that's what she tells PI Philip Marlowe, offering him a measly twenty bucks for the privilege. But Marlowe's feeling charitable though it's not long before he wishes he wasn't so sweet. You see, Orrin's trail leads Marlowe to luscious movie starlets, uppity gangsters, suspicious cops and corpses with ice picks jammed in their necks. When trouble comes calling, sometimes it's best to pretend to be out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Great book - Kindle Edition Needs Proofreading
The previous reviews of this Chandler novel are spot on, it's a Raymond Chandler novel, it's worth reading but it's not one of his most famous, and even darker than his other novels.

I have a bone to pick with this Kindle edition, though. Apparently someone just dumped in an old file without doing any proofreading. There are a lot of hyphenated words in the middle of sentences, so my guess it was from some publishing industry typesetting program that inserts hard hyphens for justification. This is irritating in a "free" public domain book, but doubly so in a paid Kindle edition. It doesn't help that there are typos, too. There are no more editors working in the publishing industry?

Cheesy. Straighten up and fly right, you mugs.

The Little Sister is big crime noire entertainment from the pen of the peerless Raymond Chandler
On one of those clear bright mornings in Los Angeles the little sister sashayed into the spartan office of Private Investigator Philliip Marlowe. The dame was from Manhatten Kansas fresh from Sunday School and service in a doctor's office. Her name was Quest and she was seeking her brother who had left the cornfields for the lush sinful landscape of 1949 Los Angeles. This is the opening scene in the "The Little Sister" which is an excellent late novel by Raymond Chandler author of such hardboiled detective classics as "The Big Sleep"; "The Long Goodbye";
"Farwell My Lovely"; "The Lady in the Lake" and "Playback."
The plot is convoluted and difficult to follow; the characters are grotesques from Miss Quest to movie queen Mavis Weld, the evil Steelgrave a mobster from Cleveland and the Latino beauty Dolores Gonzalez (who seeks to seduce Marlowe). We also get a trip to a movie studo; rich allusive writing about Los Angeles and the world weariness endemic to the disillusioned soul of Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe is the narrator of this opus.
Chandler could turn a phrase and keep your fingers flipping the 250 pages of another crime classic. Excellent writing and an entertaining visit to the underworld will keep you enthralled. Read Chandler at all costs!

Be careful of that knock on the door...
This is classic Marlowe. Perhaps one of the lesser works. It has everything thrown in except the kitchen sink - and even that makes an appearance! Crime writer Sam Millar's Karl Kane series has been compared to Marlowe, and it's easy to see why, once you're read this little gem. Go buy it. You'll love it.

Sadly, The Little Sister is Weak
This one starts out so promisingly, with the brilliantly described visit of the girl from Manhattan (Kansas), but as in The Big Sleep, the plot wanders away into improbability and even incomprehensibility (Chandler himself complained in letters of the trouble he was having plotting this one).There are the usual jerk cops and wicked women, but we've seen them all before in Chandler's novels.What's somewhat new is the truly corrosive and bitter tone, and that gets pretty tiring.Some of the writing is excellent--Chandler was a wonderful writer, but there just is no good plot and interesting characters to hang the plot on (and the caricatured Latina actress is dreadful, though she eventually is somewhat explained), so we're just left with a sour aftertaste.And I couldn't believe it when Marlowe accepted the drugged cigarette from the shady doctor.If Marlowe's that dumb after all those years, he deserves all the sappings he gets!He should have known not to accept treats from shady doctors by this time.

New Chandler readers should try his masterpiece, Farewell, My Lovely, or the intricately yet cleanly and cleverly-plotted (and underrated) The Lady in the Lake.

Not the best Marlowe story...
Having read The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake in quick succession, I found The Little Sister stands at number 4 of 5 in entertainment value.It just isn't one of the more compelling.Marlowe is still terrific, but the plot doesn't stoke the fire.

An idiosyncratic young woman travels from Kansas to locate a missing brother in LA.Things progress when it is discovered that the siblings have an actress sister as well.There's murder (with ice picks!), drugs, and plenty of skullduggery, but one just doesn't get the immersive 40's-era LA experience that other Chandler novels afford.

Period and place are essential to the full enjoyment of Chandler's novels.It is both the grist for, and the reflection of, film noir.For me, The Little Sister lacked this certain quality.Perhaps, it was too insular with its small town hoods and small time actresses, but the most likely explanation is it just didn't measure up.

If this is your first Marlowe novel, perhaps you feel differently. Keep reading.There is so much more in store.4 stars. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Solid Baseball Fiction
This interesting collection of 14 short stories mixes suspense, intrigue, and danger.These baseball-themed stories include murder and mystery, and were penned by authors like Larry Parker, Mike Connelley, and Mike Lupica. My favorite was probably the one where police tail a dangerous gang member to an L.A. Dodgers game.Others include an ex-pitcher seeking a casino job, protecting Ted Williams from death threats, and the suspicious 1961 death of Eddie Gaedel, the midget that once drew a walk for the St. Louis Browns.There are several other good stories too, with something written for many reading tastes.This book is definitely worth a look.

Baseball at midnight!
Lon Chaney is supposed to have once said that there is nothing funny about a clown at midnight, and anyone who has watched an extremely lengthy extra-inning night baseball game last relentlessly into the following morning knows that the character of the game takes on a different hue than that shown on a lazy summer afternoon or heady early evening.

This book is somewhat misnamed, as not all of the short baseball stories contained herein have an underlying "murder" theme.But all of them - written a few years ago at about the onset of the millennium - do touch upon the dark side of the human psyche.

As with any collection, some stories are better than others."Ropa Vieja" was written by a woman, and the protagonist is a female detective who notes a number of individuals of questionable immigration status playing baseball on a Baltimore playground and naturally enough concludes that this means that Baltimore is changing for the better.I don't remember anything about the story, beyond that.

And John Lesocroart's "Sacrifice Hit" could have been an effective dark tale about the excessively serious "life or death" attitudes held by some parents and coaches towards their kids performance in Little League ball.But in the end, it merely delivered the insipid message that excessive zealotry is BAD when demonstrated in the cause of victory on the field but GOOD when demonstrated in the causes of "sportsmanship and inclusion".Well, la-de-da!

Most of these stories are pretty good though.Many take place in the past, which is generally a positive thing.Troy Soos's regularly-recurring part-time ballplayer, full-time detective from the turn of the 20th century, Mickey Rawlings, makes a favorable appearance here in "Pick Off Play".

However, in order to engage yourself in this story, you've got to swallow the idea of a pitcher from that era who charges opposing hitters "protection" to have him refrain from nailing them with a bean ball.In a pre-designated-hitter era, in which the pitcher himself had to take his turn at the plate, swift retaliation would have been suffered by any pitcher who tried to fund his retirement account in that way.

Mike Lupica's "The Shot" might seem just a LITTLE dated in a post-Idiot baseball era in which the World Champion Boston Red Sox have finally shed their perennial hard luck image, but it still had me eagerly turning pages.Yet I must confess that I thought it had somewhat of a stupid "shaggy dog" ending that did not justify the build-up.I wonder what YOUR opinion will be on that score.I am debating within myself as to whether I want to buy any of Lupica's baseball novels.

Lawrence Block's detective attempts to solve the 1961 "murder" of the famous Bill Veeck baseball midget, Eddie Gaedel.Brendan Dubois and Henry Slesar master the art of the perfectly executed surprise ending as flawlessly as a Branch Rickey-conceived hit-and-run.Slesar, in particular, left what (in retrospect) seems to be a fairly obvious clue that I didn't pick up on.I wonder whether that's a reflection of the writer's craft or of my own mental slowness, and again, I wonder how other readers responded.

Some will recognize Slesar as a prolific short-story mystery writer from the 1960's, whose works often appear in old Alfred Hitchcock collections.It's nice to see that in 2001, he was still rounding out to mid-season form.

In the year 2005, this is a very readable collection as a whole, assuming that the San Francisco Giants aren't already providing enough horrors for you on the field.

Pennant contender.
I will refrain from using lots of sports cliches to describe this book...but the temptation is there.

This is very good collection of mystery writers and (for reasons I fail to grasp) Mike Lupica. I have read the works of over half the authors and a big fan of some of them.

The book was a pleasant diversion from the normal selection of mysteries and thrillers I read...especially as the major league season winds down.

Most of the stories were quick reads with a couple of surprise endings. Short stories are a different way to enjoy a writer when you are used to the whole novel. It was amazing to see how well some of these novelists could develop characters and plot in such a short format.

I found the stories by Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Elmore Leonard, Henry Slesar, Troy Soos and Robert Parker the best. Other than the Lupica the only other one that I found lacking was the one by K.C. Constantine.

A PERFECT GAME
As a mystery writer with my debut novel in initial release, an author of numerous short stories published over the years, and an educator who regularly teaches the writing of short mystery fiction within the California State University system, I believe Otto Penzler did an excellent job assembling original mystery stories for MURDERERS' ROW.This anthology features big name authors such as Lawrence Block, Robert B. Parker, Michael Connelly, and Thomas Perry.The collection covers the subject of baseball from a variety perspectives ranging from Little League to the Majors and from benchwarming little boys and baseball parents to historic superstars and sports agents.Highlights include "Harlem Nocturne" by Robert Parker, a story featuring some fellows named Rickey and Robinson and "Pick-Off Play" by Troy Soos starring his series character baseball journeyman/everyman Mickey Rawlings.I recommend MURDERERS' ROW for any mystery reader interested in baseball (as all good people are).

Incredible Book
Now this is what I call mystery book. It has all the elements of a fantastic read. Thank Otto Penzler well done. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Short Stories That Grew Into Novels
The `Introduction' by Philip Durham explains why these 8 short stories were suppressed during Raymond Chandler's lifetime: they were "cannibalized" to become part of his novels. Changes were also made to the characters, and passages were expanded with more details. Chandler worked for years as a Hollywood scriptwriter to polish dialogue for films. He had the talent to this. Before becoming a writer Chandler was an oil executive and learned about the wealthy whose lives figure in his stories. The many drinking scenes in these stories raise the question of product placement.

"Killer in the Rain" tells about the spoiled daughter of a newly rich oil millionaire. Carmen has been paying off a "rare book" dealer who has her nude photos. The interpersonal conflict results in dead bodies. Chandler studied the classics. This story could be compared to some opera or a Shakespearean tragedy. ["The Big Sleep" is an expanded version of this story.]
"The Man Who Liked Dogs" has investigator Carmady searching for a missing dog. The young woman who owned him left home and is also missing. There is plenty of action and dead bodies to thrill the readers. ["Farewell, My Lovely" used parts of this story.]
"The Curtain" begins when an old friend tells Carmady what he knows about the missing Dud O'Mara. Soon after this old friend leaves there is a flurry of shots. Now Carmady has the news that killed his pal. He is threatened by the two who killed his pal, but turns the tables. Does the apple fall far from the tree? [This story was part of "The Big Sleep".] The shooting of Larry Batzel seems implausible except for drama.
"Try the Girl" tells of a huge man who was just released from prison and is looking for his old girlfriend. Carmady tries to find Beulah the singer. The ending to this story differs from "Farewell, My Lovely". [If Beulah was so in love why didn't she keep in touch?]

"Mandarin's Jade"has John Dalmas working for a man who will buy back a very expensive jade necklace. But the deal doesn't work as planned, Dalmas is sapped and Lindley Paul is murdered. Dalmas follows a lead, and there is another dead body. Next he meets the woman who lost the necklace, and a view into the lives of the rich and famous. A visit to a cheap bar produces more dead bodies. There is a shocking surprise ending to this story. [Castellamare was where Thelma Todd lived and died.]
"Bay City Blues" starts with the carbon monoxide poisoning of a blonde wife of a doctor to the stars. Harry Matson, the watchman who found the body was run out of town, and he is scared. Matson contacts Johnny Dalmas. There is another dead body and threats to Dalmas. There is a shocking surprise at the end when the murders are solved.
"The Lady in the Lake" begins with a missing person case. The husband mentions the name of a man. Dalmas soon finds him dead, freshly killed. When Dalmas visits the lake cabin where Julia Watson was staying he finds a lady in the lake, a few days old. Dalmas continues his investigation and uncovers the secrets behind the murders, and the missing wife.
"No Crime in the Mountains" starts when John Evans receives a letter hiring him on a confidential matter. But Fred Lacey can tell no tales. More dead bodies turn up. There is a question about $500 in a shoe. Could foreign agents be active in a resort area? [The ending seems pretty weak and implausible.]

No mystery here
I'm surprised by the claim of one reviewer that "...Raymond Chandler did not allow this particular group of stories to be republished after their initial appearances in pulp magazines of the thirties."

"Killer in the Rain" has been available off-and-on from Ballantine Books since 1972. My copy, the fifth printing, is dated 1980, and has the same Philip Durham introduction. A search on ABE shows 235 used copies available, including hardcover editions dating back to the 1960s.

That said, the availability of this reprint is great news. Read these stories. Read Chandler's novels. And read the works of the earlier master, Hammett.

Eight short stories that Chandler didn't want reprinted!
What the description fails to mention is that Raymond Chandler did not allow this particular group of stories to be republished after their initial appearances in pulp magazines of the thirties.
The reason? These were the eight stories that Chandler cannibalized to form the substance and sub-plots of:
The Black Sleep [taken from "The Curtain" and "Killer In The Rain"],
Farewell My Lovely [using "The Man Who Liked Dogs", "Try The Girl" and "Mandarin's Jade"], and
The Lady In The Lake [assembled with "Bay City Blues", "Lady In The Lake", and "No Crime In The Mountains"],
the first, second and fourth, respectively, of his seven novels featuring the archetypal noir detective Philip Marlowe. (The High Window, The Little Sister and its follow-up The Long Goodbye were all wholly originated as novels, while Playback was rewritten from an unused treatment that did not originally have Marlowe as a character)
Several years after Chandler's death in 1959, Ballantine Books, which in the '60s and '70s had the licensing rights to Chandler's work, went ahead and published these as a group in the book we have here, Killer In The Rain.

Unfortunately, no publisher since has put these eight stories out again - neither Vintage, which publishes all seven novels as well as the contents of the three Ballantine collections of pre-novel short stories (The Simple Art Of Murder, Pick-Up On Noon Street, and Trouble Is My Business); even the two volume collected works published in handsome hardcover form by Library Of America, virtually complete in every other aspect, omits these stories, which leads one to wonder if the Chandler estate - such as it is - has reinstated Chandler's ban on the public having access to these stories - until such time as they truly become public domain.
With the trend towards longer copyright life -designed soley to keep uncreative marketing/publishing people making an easy living off work which, after the creator's death, should belong to the freely accesible world culture domain, instead of putting more effort into marketing the works of the living creators who most deserve the remuneration whilst still alive - many of us may not actually still be here when they can be published by anyone without restriction. So grab a copy of these original masterpieces while there are dealers still with copies!~ MannyLunch

Eight short stories tha Chandler didn't want reprinted!
What the description fails to mention is that Raymond Chandler did not allow this particular group of stories to be republished after their initial appearances in pulp magazines of the thirties.
The reason? These were the eight stories that Chandler cannibalized to form the substance and sub-plots of:
The Black Sleep [taken from "The Curtain" and "Killer In The Rain"],
Farewell My Lovely [using "The Man Who Liked Dogs", "Try The Girl" and "Mandarin's Jade"], and
The Lady In The Lake [assembled with "Bay City Blues", "Lady In The Lake", and "No Crime In The Mountains"],
the first, second and fourth, respectively, of his seven novels featuring the archetypal noir detective Philip Marlowe. (The High Window, The Little Sister and its follow-up The Long Goodbye were all wholly originated as novels, while Playback was rewritten from an unused treatment that did not originally have Marlowe as a character)
Several years after Chandler's death in 1959, Ballantine Books, which in the '60s and '70s had the licensing rights to Chandler's work, went ahead and published these as a group in the book we have here, Killer In The Rain.

Unfortunately, no publisher since has put these eight stories out again - neither Vintage, which publishes all seven novels as well as the contents of the three Ballantine collections of pre-novel short stories (The Simple Art Of Murder, Pick-Up On Noon Street, and Trouble Is My Business); even the two volume collected works published in handsome hardcover form by Library Of America, virtually complete in every other aspect, omits these stories, which leads one to wonder if the Chandler estate - such as it is - has reinstated Chandler's ban on the public having access to these stories - until such time as they truly become public domain.
With the trend towards longer copyright life -designed soley to keep uncreative marketing/publishing people making an easy living off work which, after the creator's death, should belong to the freely accesible world culture domain, instead of putting more effort into marketing the works of the living creators who most deserve the remuneration whilst still alive - many of us may not actually still be here when they can be published by anyone without restriction. So grab a copy of these original masterpieces while there are dealers still with copies!~ MannyLunch

Eight short stories Chandler didn't want reprinted!
What the description fails to mention is that Raymond Chandler did not allow this particular group of stories to be republished after their initial appearances in pulp magazines of the thirties.
The reason? These were the eight stories that Chandler cannibalized to form the substance and sub-plots of:
The Black Sleep [taken from "The Curtain" and "Killer In The Rain"],
Farewell My Lovely [using "The Man Who Liked Dogs", "Try The Girl" and "Mandarin's Jade"], and
The Lady In The Lake [assembled with "Bay City Blues", "Lady In The Lake", and "No Crime In The Mountains"],
the first, second and fourth, respectively, of his seven novels featuring the archetypal noir detective Philip Marlowe. (The High Window, The Little Sister and its follow-up The Long Goodbye were all wholly originated as novels, while Playback was rewritten from an unused treatment that did not originally have Marlowe as a character)
Several years after Chandler's death in 1959, Ballantine Books, which in the '60s and '70s had the licensing rights to Chandler's work, went ahead and published these as a group in the book we have here, Killer In The Rain.

Unfortunately, no publisher since has put these eight stories out again - neither Vintage, which publishes all seven novels as well as the contents of the three Ballantine collections of pre-novel short stories (The Simple Art Of Murder, Pick-Up On Noon Street, and Trouble Is My Business); even the two volume collected works published in handsome hardcover form by Library Of America, virtually complete in every other aspect, omits these stories, which leads one to wonder if the Chandler estate - such as it is - has reinstated Chandler's ban on the public having access to these stories - until such time as they truly become public domain.
With the trend towards longer copyright life -designed soley to keep uncreative marketing/publishing people making an easy living off work which, after the creator's death, should belong to the freely accesible world culture domain, instead of putting more effort into marketing the works of the living creators who most deserve the remuneration whilst still alive - many of us may not actually still be here when they can be published by anyone without restriction. So grab a copy of these original masterpieces while there are dealers still with copies!~ MannyLunch ... Read more

Product Description
Abridged version of The Man Who Liked Dogs by Raymond Chandler ... Read more

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Humorous military anecdotes as seen in Reader's Digest. ... Read more

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A budding young genius and a talking frog team up to help each other-- the frog needs to be kissed to become a prince, and the youth needs to stop tripping over his tongue so he can get a date. Wonderful family fun for all. ... Read more

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Raymond Chandler, the master of mystery, has created another potboiler that enthralls everyone who loves mysteries.Performed by Elliott Gould, the consummate Philip Marlow, the gritty detective breaks the case again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

The High Window is aPhillip Marlowe novel featuring the adventures of the shop soiled Galahad of Los Angeles
The High Window was published in 1942. It's author Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is a poetic master of hardboiled noir crime fiction. His metaphoric and colorful language; fascinating characters and sparkling prose make Chandler an American original. His works leap the high wall between mystery fiction and true literary art.
The High Window opens at a house in the Oak Noll Section of Pasadena. An obese, obtuse and cruel double widow with the name of Elizabeth Bright Murdock has called Marlowe to her home. The grotesque woman wants Marlowe to locate a rare coin known as the "Brasher Doubloon" which belonged to her late husband. The doubloon has been stolen. Murdock wants Marlowe to locate her former showbiz girl daughter-in-law Linda Conquest whom she suspects is guilty of the heist. Linda has been recently divorced from Lester Murdock the weak little Uriah Heepish cipher who is Mrs. Murdock's son. Marlowe also meets the intriguing Miss Merle Davis who is the virginal secretary of Mrs. Murdock. What lurks beneath the surface? Who stole the coin? What dirty secrets are being hid from the eyes of the police? Answers await as we join Marlowe on a dive into the inferno of sin which lies at the belly of the beast of Los Angeles.
This is the opening scene in a novel filled with all the twists and turns we expect in a Chandler novel. Along the way there are three murders as wheel spins within wheel in the shady, cruel, cynical and convoluted morality of the characters inhabiting the Chandlerian universe.
We remember Chandler for his skill in realistic dialogue and word paintings of Los Angeles and its 1940s environs. The plots are hard to follow and forgettable. Pick up a Chandler novel for pure reading pleasure as your eyes scan the lines penned by a master of American fiction!

Still the best
Even with all the years long gone, Chandler is still the best. The High Window may not be high profile, but it's still top of the game. Highly recommended.

Skips a beat, but worth your while...
Having read The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely, I dove eagerly into the next Raymond Chandler novel in queue.The High Window offers the standard Chandler fare of murder, blackmail and general malefaction, though its characters don't form quite as well.Philip Marlowe, the archetypical 40's investigator, is reliably entertaining, but Merle Davis, the flighty personal assistant of Marlowe's client, is so neurotic she defies description.Ultimately, she also defies the plot.

It's important to point out that I appraise in relative terms.The author's previous novels were so entertaining that even the slightest Chandler misstep would resound.But, Merle Davis is a difficult proposition to get past and she eventually becomes the heart of the story.

Still, it's an engrossing story and, while it might not hit the heights of previous efforts, it is classic Raymond Chandler: 40's-era LA, mystery and menace, and a cunning private eye. Because of this, it deserves to be read.4 stars.

Great Chandler novel--because it's so different
I found this to be first-rate Phil Marlowe, probably my favorite after Big Sleep, mainly because it does not deliver what we've come to expect from the genre. Some other resemblances between The Big Sleep to make this point: this book also features an unhealthy, rich client and an unstable young woman, and Marlowe's looking for a missing household member. Here it's an unpleasant widow who incessantly drinks port that hires Phil to find her wimpy son's wife, whom she suspects of stealing a rare gold doubloon from her husband's collection. No sooner is Marlowe on the case than the coin is returned, but by this time two dead bodies have turned up, along with another doubloon. The entire case lasts two days, but Marlowe earns his pay.

But while some elements of the setting and characters seem to purposefully recall The Big SLeep, Chandler makes it clear he's writing a different kind of story. He avoids the clichés here, even though at this time they probably weren't clichés. For instance, although the missing wife is a good-looking nightclub singer, she barely figures in the case and is only in one scene; so much for our expectation, borne of Classic Hollywood, that the smoldering dame will be at the bottom of it all. Additionally, Marlowe is (for a noir tough guy) surprisingly compassionate and sympathetic at the end of the novel, refreshingly affected by what's happened, at odds with the image of the tortured private eye reporting truth in spite of who gets hurt.

In all, a very clever and atmospheric mystery without the wildness of Farewell or the weariness Lady in the Lake. I understand some readers' beef with it, but I found the whole thing delightfully surprising without being (conventionally) suspenseful.

Superior fiction even if one of Chandler's lesser efforts
To be honest, it seems kind of silly giving this book only four stars.If you compare it to the vast majority of hardboiled or detective novels ever written, it would deserve five stars.It is only when it is compared to Chandler's other books that it falls short.This was his third novel, published after THE BIG SLEEP (which started the vogue for starting books and movies with the words "The Big") and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.In none of those books is plot and story as important as Chandler's exquisite prose, his wonderfully detailed descriptions, or his magnificently decadent characters.But even so the plots of those two look brilliant compared to this one.

The number of problems with the plot of THE HIGH WINDOW is legion, but I'll highlight only two.Chandler wants Philip Marlowe to discover a body.There are a million ways to do this, but instead of something elegant and simple, Chandler creates incredibly unlikely scenarios whereby the future corpse gives Chandler a key to his apartment so that he won't be forced to wait around if he somehow doesn't happen to be there.This is such a cheap device that it is almost as if Chandler were trying to parody storytelling.Perhaps even sillier is a bizarre gun swap, in which the killer goes into a nearby apartment, finds a gun under the pillow of the tenant, and switches it with his own.Much of the subsequent story hinges on the strange gun swap.

So, as an example of plot, THE HIGH WINDOW is a failure.Nonetheless, there is still the prose.Although Chandler is unquestionably one of the most imitated writers in literary history, no one has quite been able to match his power with words.Marlow enters a club."A check girl in peach-bloom Chinese pajamas came over to take my hat and disapprove of my clothes.She had eyes like strange sins."He prepares to question someone."From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class.From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away."He describes the residents of Bunker Hill:"Out of the apartment houses come women who should be young but have faces like stale beer; men with pulled-down hats and quick eyes that look the street over behind the cupped hand that shields the match flame . . . people who look like nothing in particular and know it."

And there are the characters.Though the best characters in THE HIGH WINDOW are not as memorable as the many, many memorable characters in THE BIG SLEEP or FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, there are still several so striking as to not easily slip out of mind.

But substandard Chandler or not, he is one of those writers so brilliant and original that he deserves to be read in toto.One should read not this or that novel, but all of it, short stories included.He is one of the few writers to have played a major role in shaping our culture as a whole.But besides that, his books -- even the lesser ones -- are just a great, great read. ... Read more

Product Description
Philip Marlowe marries a rich, beautiful society lady who wants him to settledown. But old habits die hard, and Marlowe soon is back in business, enmeshedin a case involving pornography, bigamy, and murder. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Robert B.Parker
If you like 'early' Parker works this is a 'must-read' for you! I have read all of his work and this ranks up with his best!

Solid Marlowe Mystery
Poodle Springs is Robert B. Parker's completion of a novel started by Raymond Chandler before he died in 1959 featuring private detective Philip Marlow.While I have read some of Chandler's previous novels featuring Marlow I have no emotional attachment to the character so I come with a blank slate in terms of evaluating whether Parker lives up to Chandler's character.Frankly I thought Parker did a fabulous job with the novel.It is a rather straightforward, gritty mystery, and a well done one at that.The tricky part is the unlikely event of Marlowe's being married to Linda Loring ne Potter (what her last name really is was a bit confusing to me, except she is now Mrs. Marlowe in this novel).

In this novel Marlowe is living in the plush community of Poodle Springs with his very wealthy wife instead of his usual gritty haunts in Los Angeles.He is hired to find a man who has skipped out on a $100,000 IOU from an illegal gambling establishment.It turns out the fellow is leading a double life involving pornography and blackmail and has gotten himself way over is head.Marlowe, intrepid as ever, chases him down in a nicely twisted plot.While doing this Marlowe has to deal with his rich wife's unhappiness over his continuing to be a private eye when he could live a life of leisure and spend time with her.But that he can't do or he wouldn't be Philip Marlowe anymore.The story revolved more around the case than Marlowe's marriage to Linda but Parker does a great job of blending it in.Frankly, I think this is one of the better novels Parker has written.

My only complaint about the novel is that we really never get to know Linda very well at all.Her mannerisms come off as a spoiled rich debutante but she is clearly not that.But we don't really ever know where she is coming from or get to know her.I suspect that Parker had plenty to work with to flesh out Marlowe's actions but had absolutely nothing to go on as to how Chandler envisioned developing Linda's character.So, my speculation is, in deference to Chandler he didn't try to flesh her character out too much but just left her pretty much like he found her.She comes off as a real swell gal.

Overall, on pure enjoyment, I highly recommend it.

A Pleasant Read
"Poodle Springs" is not Raymond Chandler's best work.It is not Robert B. Parker's best work, either.It doesn't quite have the edge of the usual Marlowe, or the wit of the usual Spenser.

Having said that, Chandler and Parker are both quite talented and capable authors.Either of them could make a cereal box interesting!So you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours with "Poodle Springs."It is a quick, fun read.The mystery itself is not mind-bending, but it does keep you guessing for a while.

I would have given the book four stars, such is my respect for both authors.However, a pet peeve.Parker fans are, no doubt, well aware of Parker's penchant for angst-filled relationships, where the parties love each other desperately - even perfectly - but cannot live together.And forget being married!In Parker's world, marriage risks crushing the vibrant soul of the hero every time.This was an interesting theme, maybe, when Parker first explored it with Spenser and Susan Silverman.

But since then, he has included it in every book series he's touched.The pattern is the same every time, and it has gotten quite tedious.As annoyed as I was to see it reappear in the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone novels, at least those series are purely Parker's domain to use as he wishes to explore his marriage issues.But to impose his peculiar hangup on Chandler's work here in "Poodle Springs" is to, I think, overstep his bounds.And I say this as a devoted Parker fan who owns every one of his books.

Decent Marlowe mystery completed by Parker 30 years after Chandler's death !
Chandler is best known for his half dozen private-eye Philip Marlowe novels, written during the 40's and 50's.(Chandler also authored numerous screenplays and short stories...)Marlowe is a hard-boiled, handsome but tough-guy detective who solves crimes in no frills mysteries in the vein of his fictional contemporaries Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane."Poodle Springs" arose from four chapters penned by Chandler himself prior to his death (in 1959), and then completed in full-length novel form in 1989 by fan and famous author Robert B. Parker.The setting is undoubtedly fashioned after the ritzy Palm Springs and the grittier side of Hollywood.

Marlowe has moved in with his wealthy wife, who wants him to quit the "sordid" detective work that seems to be his passion to concentrate on her and her social activities.But Marlowe refuses to be a kept man, insisting that his work defines him and makes him whole despite his love for wife Linda.After his move to the Springs, he lands a job investigating a missing photographer that owes a hundred grand to a casino.He soon enough figures out the gambler is basically a con man who is already married to a nice downtown Hollywood gal worlds apart from his (other) wealthy wife, another Poodle Springs denizen.The plot moves along at a decent hunt-and-chase pace, filled with smoking, boozing, and sexual innuendo (but nothing explicit), with a couple more shootings along the way before Marlowe figures the whole thing out before the cops can zero in on the villain.

Supposedly Parker has done a credible job finishing the book.The novel is a quick, fun read without too much violence or overwrought suspense - and few words are wasted on anything but the central storyline as Marlowe relentlessly chases clues and solves the mystery.Such classic fiction from half a century ago seems a little tame by today's thriller standards, but then again a low stress read can still amuse and entertain.We enjoyed Marlowe well enough to consider seeking out some of the original stories and catching up on his famous creator's own story telling prowess.

If you like Parker's Spenser novels, enjoy.
Having never read a Marlowe book, I can't imagine that Parker kept his writing very true to the spirit of Marlowe. Having read every Spenser novel, I can tell you that about 1/3 of the way through the book I just started imagining that Marlowe was Spenser in some sort of time warp and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Is this the way it should have been? Of course not, but I like the Spenser novels so I guess I really can't complain. I just kept wondering where Hawk was! ... Read more

Product Description
A couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—become the objects of Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

2 femme fatales and snappy dialogue - what more could you want?
As a follow-up to The Big Sleep and on the recommendation of Amazon reviewers, I bought _The Lady in the Lake_.As much as I enjoyed _The Big Sleep_, this is head and shoulders (big, broad shoulders in a snap-brim fedora and zoot-suit) above the other noir novels (The Maltese Falcon for example) I've read.Chandler provides us with two mysteries (and therefore twice the femme fatales) overlaid starkly portrayed class divisions.The plot is typical Chandler (I'll let him summarize it): "Detective confronts murderer.Murderer produces gun, points same at detective.Murdere tells detective the whole sad story, with the idea of shooting him at the end of it.THus wasting a whole lot of valuable time, even if in the end murderer did shoot detective.Only murderer never does.Something always happens to prevent it.The gods don't like this scene either.They always manage to spoil it."

The gender expectations (and inter-relations) are vintage 1940s, and some of the colloquialisms are passe, but the creativity of metaphor ("Blue Ali Baba oil jars were dotted around, big enough to keep tigers in.There was a desk and a night clerk with one of those mustaches that get stuck under your fingernail.") and of course the dialogue (oh, that dialogue!) keeps me coming back.An added bonus is that there are no open-ended conclusions, and the resolution to the twin plots are neither intentionally obfuscated nor easily discovered.In this respect, it is among the higher-quality mysteries.For fans of Chandler, this is a no-brainer.For those unfamiliar with the author or the genre, this sets the bar pretty high in terms of expectations, but clearly among the better works.

The Lady in the Lake is a classic noir classic from the pen of the dean of the genre: the eloquent Raymond Chandler
The Lady in the Lake was published in 1943. Its author is Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) whose beautiful prose style is riveting in its clearness, conciseness and metaphorical beauty. The subjects Detective Phillip Marlowe deals with are horrible and smelly human beings in the tough world of wartime Los Angeles. This book is no exception. You can feel the heat of a southern California sun as you walk the shadow streets, check in to a cheaphotel and hear the bullets fire into the tropical night.
The intricate and surprising plot concerns Phillip Marlowe being hired to trace the whereabouts of Derace Kinglsey's straying wife. Kingsley is a cosmetics firm executive and well to do. He is carrying on an affair with h is sexy office secretary Miss Adrienne Fromsett. Marlowe follows the trail to Pumace Lake where he meets Bill Chess whose own wife Mildred Haviland Chess has flown the coup! Chess is an irascible mean drinker who had a fling with Mrs, Crystal Kingsley to the utter horror of his tough broad of a spouse.
Marlowe and Chess discover a dead blonde floating in the lake. It is assumed the body is that of Mildred Chess.
Marlowe also learns of Chris Lavery a boy toy who later in the tale turns up murdered in his shower stall. Along the way we see Marlowe being roughed up and jailed by the L.A. cops. The death of Mrs. Albert S. Almore (M.D.) is also connected to the crimes. Who is the lady in the lake and what thread will tie together all the stray sheets of evidence? Only the mind of Phillip Marlowe can solve this difficult case.
Ross MacDonald said that Chandler wrote like a slumming angel. He was on target! If you want gritty crime fiction then turn to Chandler. This is one of his best books.

Plenty of Murders, but ....
... they're all beside the point. "The Lady in the Lake", like all of Raymond Chandler's novels, is about atmosphere, about the constant scent of lurking menace, and the menace is "Lady" is almost palpable from the first page to the last.I've been catching up on "crime fiction" lately - both the old stuff like Chandler and Rex Stout and new stuff bike Tallis and Indridason - and what surprises me about the genre is its intellectuality. Even tough guy private detective Philip Marlowe has a fine-grit wit and a sly sense of allusion that would be wasted on a reader without some of the same instincts. In short, I'm beginning to catch on to why so of the smartest people I know are addicted to crime fiction.

Marlowe attracts truculence like a baby in a stroller draws ga-ga-goos. Part of the fun is in Marlowe's steely-gray ability to glare 'em down, both the hard bodies and the babes. Another part is in Marlowe's stoicism when he gets smacked around, as he does inevitably in every episode. He's a "cheap date' for the brutal sociopaths of his world, ten bucks a day and no apparent urge to "better' himself. The only characters in a Raymond Chandler novel who don't bristle with rage and cynicism are a few scared-rabbit parking-lot attendants, and a corpse or two.

But the real anti-hero of the "Philip Marlowe Novels" isn't the impassive pug investigator. It's Los Angeles, or rather the greater Los Angeles area, the final collecting pond of westward-ho whither everything loose in America eventually rolls: the sleazy easy and the scummy crumby, the glitzy wealth beside the trashy poverty, all having in common just their raw transitory meaninglessness, the cheap thrill society with no history and no desire for a future. It's a question to me - a chicken-or-egg question - which came first, Los Angeles or the indelible image of Los Angeles created by Raymond Chandler in his novels and by Hollywood in films like "Chinatown." In either case, it hasn't changed.

A Laurel for the Master
It's often said Chandler could not plot, but The Lady in the Lake gives the lie to that tale.The Lady in the Lake has the complexity of an Agatha Christie or Freeman Wills Crofts and for once Chandler manages to fully (well, almost) make sense of it all at the end.Here the plot revelations keep one turning pages, along with the writing.Characters are vivid as ever, and more plausibly presented than in The Big Sleep.Not as moving a story as Farewell, My Lovely, but beautifully plotted, The Lady in the Lake is a pinnacle of genuine detective fiction.

Marlowe in the mountains...
One of the fun things about Chandler can be familiarity with the LA area in which his tales take place.This time, Philip Marlowe goes sleuthing in the San Bernadino Mountains in a town that, in the real world, is named Big Bear Lake.Such surroundings allow the entrance of a different sort of character - the rustic lawman.It's a nice counterpoint to the city savvy Marlowe and distinguishes this novel from Chandler's others.

Reading Chandler's Marlowe novels in quick succession may not the optimum way to enjoy them.While they remain suspenseful and entertaining, the genre requires a set formula that cannot vary overmuch from murder, blackmail and mistaken indentity.The only variance being who, where, and for what purpose.I suspect the intervals between original publication were the pause Chandler's contemporary readership needed.

Nevertheless, The Lady in the Lake remains highly readable.At the climactic moment when Marlowe unravels the mystery, I found I couldn't put the book down despite needing to be elsewhere.Thus, Chandler's skill as a wordsmith compensates for any formulaic repetition. I found The Lady in the Lake second only to Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely in compelling, 40's-era detective fiction. It is another 5-star reading experience. ... Read more

Product Description
In a sequel to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Marlowe takes on a case involving General Sternwood, who is six feet under, Vivian, who is dating a blackmailer, and Carmen, a sanitorium escapee. Reprint. K. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

For Chandler Fans
It's almost as good as the master.The writing is great, and Elliot Gould did his usual fabulous job.I have ALL the books he has done.This one never skipped a beat.

None review
I did not buy really this book, so I can not make any review. I received a book in English when I wanted a book in Spanish.

Decent Sequel to The Big Sleep
Perchance to Dream is Robert B. Parker's sequel to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.Here, once again, Marlowe runs into the crazy sistersVivian and Carmen Sternwood.In the Big Sleep, as you know, Carmen is totally insane and killed a man and was put away in a sanitarium.Here, she disappears and the Sternwood butler, who has been left a lot of money by the girls' father, hires Marlow to find her.Problem is it seems nobody wants him to look for her, much less find her.Of course Marlow runs into all kinds of shady dealings and nefarious characters in his search and it turns out to be rather standard mystery novel.

Overall, this novel is a bit too much like the Big Sleep.Although the plot is quite different, I almost felt like I was reading the same novel over again.And I never really did find the Sternwood sisters to be all that believable as characters.Nevertheless, it was very entertaining and well done novel so I would recommend it to Parker and Chandler fans.

Marlowe's Last Case
Robert B. Parker has written many mystery novels. This 1991 novel is his sequel to Raymond Chandler's first novel "The Big Sleep". The `Prologue' repeats the ending of "TBS"; it explains how the super-rich use criminals to get rid of problems. Chandler had been an oil company executive and knew things. General Sternwood has died. Marlowe was called to the mansion by Norris the butler. Miss Carmen has disappeared from the sanatorium and Marlowe must find her. Parker embeds quotes from "TBS". Chandler's descriptive prose contrasts. Literary types may admire it but it does not contribute to the story; its inefficient. Parts of "TBS" were taken from Chandler's earlier short stories. Parker's prose has words and descriptions that Chandler could not use.

Marlowe can get no information from Dr. Bonsentir, the owner of the sanatorium. He is well connected. Marlowe interviews others, like Eddie Mars. Then he surreptitiously returns to this sanatorium and gets a clue about Carmen. Who is "Mr. Simpson"? Vivian gives her information to Marlowe. Parker's conversations aren't equal to Chandler's (Chapter 11). This story is set after the war (Chapter 12). Marlowe learns about Simpson's clout (Chapter 14); he is untouchable. [Would the wealthy Sternwoods have only one telephone number?] Would Marlowe get involved with Vivian (Chapter16). Marlowe is warned off the case (Chapter 18), but follows a lead to far out in the country (Chapter 19). He visited Rancho Springs (Chapter 21). A phone call brings Marlowe back to Rancho Springs (Chapter 27).

Marlowe watches Bonsentir and follows him to Fair Harbor. He sees the big yacht offshore and calls Eddie Mars. Marlowe boards the yacht after dark (Chapter 31). The villains are there (Chapter 32). Marlowe rescues Carmen from her fate. The authorities sort things out (Chapter 34). There will be no scandals in the press. Rich Randolph Simpson will be committed. Marlowe left and didn't look back. [I don't think there will be a sequel.]
This is a very good story which continued the characters of "The Big Sleep". I thought the ending was weak. Wouldn't it be better if that ship disappeared at sea during a storm?

Chandler-light
This book is a good sequil to The Big Sleep, and is much easier to read. You can picture Bogart (albeit 6 foot tall and 190 lbs) trouncing around southern California in search of the missing Carmen Sternwood, with Bacall having a bit part as sister Vivian.Parker is faithful to the characters, and does a nice job.This was a fun read. ... Read more