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The Simple Art of Murder
by: Raymond Chandler

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780394757650
ISBN: 0394757653
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: September 12, 1988
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: September 12, 1988
Studio: Vintage
Sales Rank: 232767

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Prefaced by the famous Atlantic Monthly essay of the same name, in which he argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detective novel, this collection mostly drawn from stories he wrote for the pulps demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facility with the form.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Hardboiled to perfection
The best! No hard-boiled writer, except Dashiell Hammett, can write mysteries that "feel" better.

This collection consists of: "The Simple Art of Murder" (an essay on mystery writing), and the short stories: "Spanish blood," "I'll be waiting", "The King in Yellow", "Pearls are a Nuisance", "Pickup on Noon Street", "Smart-aleck Kill", "Guns at Cyrano's", "Nevada gas."

Rating:

- CHANDLER WARMS UP
I have reviewed Raymond Chandler's seven Phillip Marlowe detective classics elsewhere in this space so there is no need to go into detail about his place in the detective genre pantheon. What is interesting in this series of short works is that Chandler is working out the 'formula' for what he expects out of his detectives. Those qualities get worked out in Marlowe and thus take their place as very good literary work indeed. Even here Chandler exhibits the sparse but functional dialogue that holds the Marlowe series together. If you have never read Chandler in novel or short story form here is your chance. There will be no place for Agatha Christie-type parlor detectives for you after that. For sure.

If nothing else get this book for his essay that gives this work its title. This ... Read More

Rating:

- You can't beat Raymond Chandler
The thing about Raymond Chandler is his ability to put words together in the most intriguing, descriptive way. His prose is beyond readable -- it's captivating. The first book of his I read was "Farewell, My Lovely." I read a couple of paragraphs and I was simply hooked. The stories themselves are wonderful, but told by a lesser author, they wouldn't be half as good.

The sad thing about Chandler is that he got started rather late in life with his writing and he didn't get that many books written before he died. Today, you can find about eight books, comprising six novels and two collections of short stories. "The Simple Art of Murder" is one of the short story collections.

Chandler's famous fictional detective, Philip Marlowe does not appear in any of the short stories ... Read More

Rating:

- I Read It Until the Book Fell Apart
I am commenting on the present book not the older 1968 version. Some other people are commenting on the old book.

Before you read all the other comments here, please be clear that this book is not like Chandler's other books. Unfortunately, some other people commenting on this book have not read the book - obviously. This book does not contain his character Philip Marlowe. He might have been in the 1968 version, I do not know. Here we have an essay by Chandler called "The Simple Art of Murder," followed by 8 short stories, each about 40 pages long. In some ways, these are a sampling of Chandler's "other stories." They still involve an LA based private detective, but each leading male protagonist has a different personality.

The great attraction of this book is the essay by Chandler ... Read More

Rating:

- From the pen of the master.
(Note: This is a review of the 1968 hardcover edition of The Simple Art of Murder published by W.W. Norton & Co. There are major differences between this edition and the Black Lizard paperback depicted above. Most significantly, the 1968 version contains 4 stories the Black Lizard paperback does not.)

The Simple Art of Murder is a collection of author favorites culled from short works of crime fiction by the legendary Raymond Chandler. The title, The Simple Art of Murder, is the same as that of an essay Chandler wrote in 1945. That essay, which can be found in this book, is a distillation of the author's views on the contemporary state of detective fiction, its future and its limitations. Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions it presents, you will find it highly valuable reading, ... Read More

Books : The Simple Art of Murder