Off The Bookshelf US -Books The High Window The High Window New & Used The High Window Books CDS DVD's Nusic Electronics

Search Books - select a category

Buy The High Window online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

The High Window
by: Raymond Chandler

List Price: $13.95

Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.16

You Save: $2.79 (20%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: $4.48
Third Party New Price: $5.99

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780394758268
ISBN: 0394758269
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: July 12, 1988
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: July 12, 1988
Studio: Vintage
Sales Rank: 271240

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune—the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.

"Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude."-- Erle Stanley Gardner

"Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement." -- The New York Times

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Superior fiction even if one of Chandler's lesser efforts
To be honest, it seems kind of silly giving this book only four stars. If you compare it to the vast majority of hardboiled or detective novels ever written, it would deserve five stars. It is only when it is compared to Chandler's other books that it falls short. This was his third novel, published after THE BIG SLEEP (which started the vogue for starting books and movies with the words "The Big") and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY. In none of those books is plot and story as important as Chandler's exquisite prose, his wonderfully detailed descriptions, or his magnificently decadent characters. But even so the plots of those two look brilliant compared to this one.

The number of problems with the plot of THE HIGH WINDOW is legion, but I'll highlight only two. Chandler wants Philip ... Read More

Rating:

- A Fantastic View from A High Window
Raymond Chandler is that rare sort of novelist who creates a world that sings with individuality while inviting others to join the fun. That, perhaps, is Chandler's greatest talent--he makes his world inviting while never pandering to prurient or common tastes. In A High Window, Philip Marlowe, Chandler's famous American icon of cynicism and subtle honor, is tasked with finding a rare coin and the person who stole it. His client is a bossy, asthmatic, hulk of a woman who downs glass after glass of port and who doesn't mind telling Marlowe her low opinion of his character and skills. Of course, she's wrong. And she's hiding all sorts of secrets of her own. As in all Philip Marlowe adventures, the ride is always more fun than the destination. When you read Raymond Chandler, you're lovingly dumped ... Read More

Rating:

- The high bar
I love Raymond Chandler. And Marlowe, the joke cracking private eye who's tough on the outside and golden on the inside and who would be cliched except he's the original everyone else copied...it's vintage noir, hard-boiled action, the world without frills, a trail of murders and blackmail and robbery. It's flawed the way America's underbelly is flawed but it's always clear where Marlowe's sympathies lie...with the poor, the lost, the wicked, the desperate doing all they can to get out of poverty's trap. But he takes everyone as he finds them and gives them their due. It's a fast-paced quick read with suspenseful twists and turns that spin you through an L.A. that is still recognizable, and definitely the L.A. that I love.

Rating:

- MARLOWE GETS HIS BEARINGS
Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's classic noir hard-boiled private detective forever literarily associated with Los Angeles and its means streets is right at home here in his search for a missing family heirloom thought to have been 'taken' by an errrant family member. As always there are plots within plots and it is many a false lead and bump on the noggin' before the intrepid Marlowe puts this one to rest. As usual there is plenty of sparse but functional dialogue, physical action and a couple of plot twists, particularly around the motives of the parties involved. And where does this novel stand in relationship to the other Marlowe epics? Give me those background oil derricks churning out the wealth while looking for Rusty Regan in Big Sleep or the run down stucco flats in pursue of Moose's ... Read More

Rating:

- Murder, Blackmail, and More Murder
Wealthy widow Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock hired Philip Marlowe [These scenes show the literary flourishes necessarily absent from his short stories.] Mrs. Murdock wants Marlowe to retrieve a valuable item that was stolen by a member of her family; nobody is to be arrested (Chapter 2). This is a rare gold coin: the Brasher Doubloon. Mrs. Murdock believes her daughter-in-law took it when she left her son; she had been a night club singer. Marlowe begins to investigate the leads, and meets various people. Chandler's literary descriptions of the people provide background on the individuals. Complications arise from his interview with these various people. Soon a dead body is found (another private investigator). A package arrives for Marlowe - it has one gold coin (Chapter 12). But Mrs. Murdock no longer wants ... Read More

Books : The High Window