About this title: This early novel preceded the introduction of Chandler's famous detective Philip Marlowe, but was a crucial step in setting the stage for his entrance.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780345288585ISBN:0345288580
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Entire book is tanned with clean pgs, book shows much shelf, edge & corner wear, stains on side edges, scuffing of front cover with small crease, curling of front cover. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Third Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780345257284ISBN:0345257286
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Edge and corner wear, lightly scuffed and scratched, spine is lightly creased, pages are toning, lightly shelf worn, overall a clean used first Ballantine Books edition! 398 suspense-filled and mystery-riddled pages! "Chandler's world.....Where the day's blaze of sunlight uncovers the lies, the corruption, and the sudden violence that hide in the neon nighttime of L.A. Here are eight classic stories of that world by an all-time master of detective fiction......" read more
Binding: MASS MARKET PAPERBACK
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN-13:9780345257284ISBN:0345257286
Description: Very Good. 0345257286 Tight book, nice text, some wear to covers and edges books may have some minor wearhouse damage. Stickers may be on spine or covers. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780345257284ISBN:0345257286
Description: Good. No Jacket. Size: 4 1/4" x 7"; Cover has some scuffs. Edges/spine have some wear/chips. Binding good, text free of notes. Philip MarloweConfirmation on all Domestic Orders! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1972
Description: Good. No Jacket. Size: 4 1/4" x 7 1/4"; Good Minus Mass Market Paperback showing some wear, chipping to edges and spine. Some cover creases. Soiling age/toning to page edges and cover. Binding good, text free of notes. Spine leans and has reading creases. Confirmation on all Domestic Orders! read more
Edition: First Pocket Book Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, Inc., New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Good. Pocket 75138. December 1965. 1st printing. Heavy wear to covers. Water stain at bottom of first 50 or so pages. Penned price on inside cover. Soild reader. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780345226655ISBN:0345226658
Description: Very Good- No Jacket. Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall; *** Paperback in Very Good-condition. Binding tight, pages clean. No previous owner names. Front cover torn at bottom edge near spine, but secure. General wear. *** read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books / An Intext Publisher [1972], New York
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780345026651ISBN:0345026659
Description: Good. First edition thus. Collects 8 stories 398 pages. VG copy [spine creased and slightly cocked, very light cover creasing] with inked price to the first page, and some light colored staining to the bottom edge of the rear cover, and some related spot staining to the bottom edge. read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books Inc [1965], New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Good. First edition thus. 398 pages. Some tackiness to the cover [from cleaning? ] else a VG+ copy [light creasing, cheap text paper tanning].. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Date Published: 1964
Description: Very good. No dust jacket. xii, 394 p.; 22 cm. Short stories Killer in the rain. --The man who liked dogs. --The curtain. --Try the girl. --Mandarin's jade. --Bay City blues. --The lady in the lake. --No crime in the mountains read more
"If ever there were a collection of hard boiled shorts stories, these are them. They are a bit formulaic. Chandler has a good feel for humorous, appropriate metaphors i.e., "it looked like he tied his tie with a pair of pliers.""
"A collection of eight stories not previously reprinted, because Chandler had re-used much of the material in later novels (for some reason, he felt compelled to abandon material that had been thus "cannibalized") (according to the Introduction). So readers of his novels will notice extremely familiar elements in many of these stories. Now, Chandler is one of those amazing writers who lies in the background of a lot of later fiction - especially detective fiction - in part because of his material and in part because of his style. Very slowly, he writes of one character, his face drained of all expression and became a dead gray mask. Then the man shot himself - rather than kill the two representatives of law and order he'd cornered, when his mission had already gone completely wrong. The Intro notes that Chandler's heroes, flawed though they were, came equipped with a sense of justice that compelled them to help people. That shows strongly in these stories.
And then there are the amazing descriptions, and the way he rarely bothered to directly describe how his characters felt. A desperate criminal points a gun at you - what's the point of describing the protagonist's reaction? But also the lyrical and unexpected descriptions of things and people. Robert B. Parker probably dreamed of writing like this guy, until he found his own similar but less high-flown voice. Garrison Keillor's Guy Noir is not, I think, a mockery of this style but a way of reveling in it. It's a joy to read Chandler's work and encounter these clever, sparkling little jewels. Maybe it's not quite the thing, in these postmodern, even more cynical than back then days, but I say: tough. A little poetry won't kill you."
"Even if you aren't a hard-boiled detective kinda reader, every bibliophile should have at least a little Chandler under their belt! I picked this up at a used stall in Sweden, for about a kronor I think (that's about 14 cents, American). Well worth several times that price. This is a collection of several pulp stories from various sources: 'Killer in the Rain,' 'The Man Who Liked Dogs,' 'The Curtain,' 'Try the Girl,' 'Mandarin's Jade,' 'Bay City Blues,' 'The Lady in the Lake,' and 'No Crime in the Mountains' (my personal favourite from this set). There's a very interesting intro to my edition, by Philip Durham of Univ. of California, which details the incestuous evolution of these stories into the bigger and better-known later works from Chandler (e.g., The Big Sleep). However, these are all pre-Marlowe tales, though the character himself is recognisable within even without the handle. Seriously, if you're an ardent reader, get yourself some Chandler, already! This is a splendid place to just jump in and grab a story or two, perhaps to whet one's appetite for more."
"Including the story in the title, there are eight short stories in this collection. Two of my favorites, The Man Who Liked Dogs, and The Lady in the Lake are included here. Ray Chandler had an ear for dialogue, and a talent for description that grab the reader by the throat and march him off into shamus territory. Consider this little randomly-chosen gem:
"I pushed her back into the house without saying anything, shut the door. We stood looking at each other inside. She dropped her hand slowly and tried to smile. Then all expression went out of her white face and it looked as intelligent as the bottom of a shoe box." p. 25
These are eight of the very best detective stories ever written."
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