The Lady in the Lake and Other Novels

Phillip Marlowe Novels

Raymond Chandler wrote seven Marlowe novels and left one unfinished. All are rightly regarded as classic American writing that trances the genre they were created for.

Chandler created a dark and violent Los Angles where nothing is ever what it seems. Marlowe is a flawed hero, sick at heart with what he sees but still a man of honour. He's crude, witty seemingly not bright but possessed of an incisive mind and a strong sense of justice which doesn't necessarily agree with the law. He does what's right, even if it puts him in the line of fire.

All these works were put together from short stories published in "pulp" magazines but many writers do this. What puts Chandler apart is the way he weaves disparate stories into coherent and deeply convoluted plots with grace and fluidity.

Chandler was a great American writer by any standard and the novels if read in chronological order are masterpieces of character development and the world they inhabit. It's not a nice world, it's dark and mean and good guys dont always win but Chandler imbides it with a reality that deeply satisfying.