I found a nice 1958 first edition, second printing at Iliad. It’s a fine edition. I love the typeface which is uncredited and the design of the book. The thing that makes Chandler so seductive is he uses very few words to paint his scenes. Like Hemingway but less deliberately. Few adjectives. The simple word over the flash. And the wit. It’s like the wit of the Metaphysical poets in that it calls attention to itself. You are meant to notice the carefully chosen simile. The metaphor is metaphysical. In Playback  (his last) it’s still there, with the taut prose and the love for the missing lady. The flirtatious behaviour with the client. I’m not even sure what the title means. He is paid to pursue a lady. But it isn’t as good as others.

I then read this, his first novel, which comes in fully laden, fully charged, with Philip Marlowe precisely delineated in this tale of the mad seductive sisters of the sad rich old man in the Orchidarium and Marlowe’s compulsive habit of turning down money. This is almost the signature Chandler character keynote:  the refusal to be swayed by money. And it is important in all his books so that they are about a class struggle, between the monied classes who can afford to ignore and pay off the law and the poor schmuck whom they try and manipulate but who in the end makes the difficult choices and takes the beatings and is refused to be bribed off. The Big Sleep is death of course. Born in Chicago, educated at Dulwich College England,  what are the odds Chandler would become the archetypal noir fictional writer of California, learning his trade from Hammet’s Maltese Falcon. This his first novel is an extraordinary beginning.

This is simply a magnificent book. A classic. I had forgotten how good it is. It surmounts the genre and can be set proudly alongside any major American novels of the 20^th Century. He is a master of the art of short, simple, writing. I devoured it and, as with all great books, felt saddened as the end approached. One of the best American novels of the last century.

“This is a magnificent book. A great achievement. Wise, witty, erudite, informative, learned and honest. Carey Harrison has written a masterpiece. I can’t wait to read it again.” A superb novel from an old friend. I loved it. Please buy it and enjoy yourselves.