Raymond Chandler Collection - Raymond Chandler

Written by Raymond Chandler
Read by Ray Porter
Format: M4B
Unabridged

Author summary:
Raymond Chandler was an American-British crime writer best known for creating private detective Philip Marlowe. His books are classic hardboiled detective fiction and noir, usually set in and around Los Angeles, with sharp dialogue, corruption, blackmail, murder, wealth, and moral compromise. Chandler’s major novels were published mainly from the late 1930s through the 1950s, and his writing helped define the modern private-eye mystery.

1. The Big Sleep (1939) - Done
Read By: Ray Porter
Philip Marlowe is hired by the wealthy Sternwood family to deal with a blackmail case, but the job quickly pulls him into murder, gambling, and family secrets. This is the first Philip Marlowe novel and one of the defining books of hardboiled detective fiction.

2. Farewell, My Lovely (1940) - Done
Read By: Ray Porter
Marlowe becomes involved with Moose Malloy, an ex-con searching for his missing former girlfriend. The case leads through nightclubs, crooked cops, jewel theft, and a dark web of Los Angeles corruption.

3. The High Window (1942) - Done
Read By: Ray Porter
Marlowe is hired to recover a rare missing coin known as the Brasher Doubloon. What begins as a theft investigation turns into a murder case involving greed, family tension, and deception.

4. The Lady in the Lake (1943) - Done
Read By: Ray Porter
Marlowe is hired to find a missing woman, but the case expands into multiple deaths and tangled identities. The story moves between Los Angeles and mountain resort areas, giving it a slightly different setting from Chandler’s more city-focused novels.

5. The Little Sister (1949) - Done
Read By: Ray Porter
A young woman from Kansas hires Marlowe to find her missing brother, but the search leads into Hollywood, blackmail, murder, and celebrity scandal. The book has a sharper, more cynical tone and reflects Chandler’s dark view of the movie business.

6. The Long Goodbye (1953)
Read By: Ray Porter
Marlowe befriends Terry Lennox, a troubled war veteran with a wealthy wife, and later becomes caught in a murder investigation after Lennox disappears. The novel is one of Chandler’s most personal and highly regarded works, mixing mystery with themes of loyalty, loneliness, corruption, and disillusionment.

7. Playback (1958)
Marlowe is hired to follow a mysterious woman, leading to blackmail, murder, and another look at California wealth and corruption.

8. Killer in the Rain (1964)
Collection of short stories originally published in pulp magazines between 1935 and 1941.
“Killer in the Rain” (1935)
“The Man Who Liked Dogs” (1936)
“The Curtain” (1936)
“Try the Girl” (1937)
“Mandarin’s Jade” (1937)
“Bay City Blues” (1937)
“The Lady in the Lake” (1939)
“No Crime in the Mountains” (1941)

9. Collection of Short Stories
01 Blackmailers Don’t Shoot
02 Smart-Aleck Kill
03 Finger Man
04 Killer in the Rain
05 Nevada Gas
06 Spanish Blood
07 Guns at Cyrano’s
08 The Man Who Like Dogs
09 Pickup on Noon Street
10 Goldfish
11 The Curtain
12 Try the Girl
13 Mandarin’s Jade
14 Red Wind
15 The King in Yellow
16 Bay City Blues
17 The Lady in the Lake
18 Pearls Are a Nuisance
19 Trouble Is My Business
20 I’ll Be Waiting
21 The Bronze Door
22 No Crime in the Mountains
23 Professor Bingo’s Snuff
24 The Pencil
25 English Summer