Rating: 
Summary: Count Jason Ennis: attention
Review: Count Jason Ennis: You can find the rest of the stories from "Trouble is My Business" in the Chandler title "The Simple Art of Murder." That's another great collection of the master's work. Now that's a collection worthy of a bishop kicking a hole through a stained-glass window!" -- Dashiell Millar
Rating: 
Summary: Where are the first 8 stories?
Review: I bought a dog-eared copy of this collection ("Trouble is My Business") at a book sale for $1.50 a year ago. The copy I have is thick with 12 stories. I bought this copy of "Trouble is my Business" to have a better copy, but was disappointed to discover that it had been whittled down to only the final four Marlowe stories. My question is, what the hell happened to the first 8 and why is Amazon.com still describing this as a collection of 12 when there are merely four? That's not jake, fellas.
Rating:
Summary: Count Jason Ennis: attention
Review: I bought a dog-eared copy of this collection ("Trouble is My Business") at a book sale for $1.50 a year ago. The copy I have is thick with 12 stories. I bought this copy of "Trouble is my Business" to have a better copy, but was disappointed to discover that it had been whittled down to only the final four Marlowe stories. My question is, what the hell happened to the first 8 and why is Amazon.com still describing this as a collection of 12 when there are merely four? That's not jake, fellas.
Rating:
Summary: Every so-called detective writer needs to read this NOW!
Review: Perfect starting point for those wanting to find out who the hell this Chandler guy was. Way ahead of his time, and over the head of the "cat detective" set, these stories a pure gold. The John Dalmas character is essentially a raw Philip Marlowe, but the knight errant is still there, in an unrefined form. Bay City Blues, Mandarin's Jade, The Lady in the Lake...stories and attitudes that Tarrantino can only dream of ripping off. Read it now before La-La Land turns it into the next Demi Moore vehicle
Rating:
Summary: Trouble....I Love It
Review: Rarely do I gush about an author of so-called "genre" fiction... since I never read it. But I love Lauren Bacall and watched the movie "The Big Sleep" and thought the dialogue was great so I grabbed a Chandler book to check out his stuff. I was blown away by his evocative descriptions of people and places. Never have I had that feeling of "being there" like when I read Chandler. And since I always feel like I was born in the wrong time, I'm so happy that I found someone who can take me back just by his lush descriptions. Reading Chandler is a joy and a treat. The clever dialouge, snappy comebacks, the slang, all the dead bodies. I'm in agreement with the other reviews that said "Red Wind" is the best story in this book, but all four stories are superior works of fiction. God bless this author!
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Summary: Four stories by Raymond Chandler.
Review: Some of the stories are better than others. I liked the last one of the four, "Red Wind" the best. Chandler wrote amazingly vivid descriptions of people's minute physical actions, their appearances, and physical surroundings. He painted visually georgeous portraits of crooks, lowlifes, and detectives. His plots were complex, too. The Lady in the Lake is also a beautiful book. Very high body count in his books and vivid corpses, too. It's no wonder he's still popular. Certainly no movie could do his work justice.
Rating:
Summary: A Master's Best
Review: The four short stories in this book are jewels in the canon of crime fiction. Along with The Little Sister and The Big Sleep they represent the best of Chandler's work and that is saying a great deal both in the genre and 20th-century fiction itself.
Rating:
Summary: Great collection of classic LA detective stories
Review: There are those who feel that The Big Sleep or Farewell My Lovely are Chandler's best work, but I disagree. As fine as they are, they were, after all, taken from his previously published short stories. Chandler was not a novelist, really. He was writer of scenes. He could spend paragraphs describing a room, or a person, or an open field, for that matter, and leave you begging for more. These four stories are the best he had to offer. Red Wind gets the most attention, usually, thanks to the classic opening paragraph, but my personal favorite is Goldfish. The character of Carol Donovan is the most exquisitely drawn hard-boiled female since Brigit O'Shaughnessy, and the finale is as good as the finale of Shane.
Rating:
Summary: The best of Raymond Chandler
Review: There are those who feel that The Big Sleep or Farewell My Lovely are Chandler's best work, but I disagree. As fine as they are, they were, after all, taken from his previously published short stories. Chandler was not a novelist, really. He was writer of scenes. He could spend paragraphs describing a room, or a person, or an open field, for that matter, and leave you begging for more. These four stories are the best he had to offer. Red Wind gets the most attention, usually, thanks to the classic opening paragraph, but my personal favorite is Goldfish. The character of Carol Donovan is the most exquisitely drawn hard-boiled female since Brigit O'Shaughnessy, and the finale is as good as the finale of Shane.
Rating: 
Summary: Reading the Lost Stories
Review: These four short stories were taken from the original book "The Simple Art of Murder". They are about his fictional private detective Phillip Marlowe who is from Los Angeles. The "Continental Op" was a hard-boiled gritty detective. Phillip Marlowe speaks in a witty manner that show the erudition of his author, and may explain his appeal in literary circle. Marlow drinks like a fish (to match the author?). The slang used has a short shelf life. You can decide if this is more realistic.
"Trouble Is My Business" tells of a job where Marlowe has to break up the romance between a wealthy heir and a showgirl. This ends in a tragedy for the powerful millionaire that hired Marlowe. (Why couldn't Marlowe notice the tail when he went to visit the Questioned Document Examiner?) Does this story echo some Shakespearean tragedy?
"Finger Man" tells how a crooked politician tries to get even with Marlowe for his testimony. A man hires Marlowe to act as his bodyguard when he visits a gambling house. The man is found dead, his winnings wind up in Marlowe's safe. This typical detective story ends with the guilty dead or in jail; except for the red-head.
"Goldfish" tells how Marlowe is hired to recover stolen property. The company that insured the pearls offers a reward. The man with the lead is found dead. More difficulties follow. Another pair try to find the pearls. Marlowe finds the paroled thief. (If someone lives in an area, do they need a map to find a house?) The evil pair are neutralized, and Marlowe finds the hidden pearls.
"Red Wind" begins with Marlowe drinking a beer at a bar, watching another man drink rye. A stranger walks in for a drink. The rye drinker suddenly shoots him, and walks out the door. Now the mystery begins: strangers pop up, then disappear. Coincidences that are part of the story appear. The ending has an "O. Henry" touch. Illusions fall, and reveal a sad reality. [This is the most dramatic story in this book.]
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