'Distilling the action into a tasty tale'

“A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” – Raymond Chandler

 

Born in Chicago on July 23, 1888 Chandler started his writing career out of desperation after losing his job during the Great Depression.  Finding he had a great knack for writing crime stories he started as a magazine writer for several years before devising his first novel – the longtime bestseller (it’s still in print and selling steadily) The Big Sleep in 1939.

 

Chandler had 7 novels published, including Double Indemnity and The Long Goodbye – considered a masterpiece in the genre and named one of the top 100 novels of the 20^th Century.   A founder of the “hard-boiled school of detective fiction,” Chandler’s protagonist Philip Marlowe was made even more famous through the acting of Humphrey Bogart, who played him in a number of films adapted from Chandler’s works.  

 

Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books, said Chandler offered “some of the finest dialogue written in any prose” and mystery writer Paul Levine described Chandler's style as the "literary equivalent of a quick punch to the gut."

 

“Write ‘actively,’” Chandler said.  “And when in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.”