Trouble Is My Business

Rating:
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: 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.]



Rating:
Summary: Get it for "Red Wind," if for nothing else
Review: This contains the best of Chandler, if not all of it is the best of Chandler. "Red Wind" is one of the most brilliant short stories not just in detective literature but in American Literature. The last few paragraphs are unspeakably precious, and give more insight into Marlowe's character than any of the novels. And the rest of the stories are fine too!

Rating:
Summary: Get it for "Red Wind," if for nothing else
Review: This contains the best of Chandler, if not all of it is the best of Chandler. "Red Wind" is one of the most brilliant short stories not just in detective literature but in American Literature. The last few paragraphs are unspeakably precious, and give more insight into Marlowe's character than any of the novels. And the rest of the stories are fine too!