Customer Reviews

The Simple Art of Murder

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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 on how he writes, and what he thinks of other writers. After reading the esssay, I immediately ran out and bought Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms." Chandler thought that this book probably has the best prose of 20th century novels. In the essay Chandler tells us about his philosophy to writing crime stories, and he makes comments on other writers from Hemingway to British mystery writer Dorothy Sayers. It is a good essay by Chandler but short.

I have read all 7 Chandler novels plus the short stories "Trouble is My Business." One can make the argument that the present book is perhaps his best work; although, the short story format does not make for an impressive read - as we see for example in "Farewell, My Lovely," or other full novels.

As a Chandler fan I read this introduction four times, and read most other stories twice. "Smart-Aleck Kill" has a very complicated plot compressed into a very short format. I ended up reading it three times before all the characters were clear in my mind. Eventually the binding of this new book came apart. There is no Philip Marlowe, but this is an excellent sample of Chandler's writing skills.

Chandler wrote detective mystery stories, and became famous for seven novels and a number of Hollywood screen plays, mostly about crime and private detectives in the "film noir" genre of Hollywood black and white films, or what is called LA "pulp fiction". Far from being an ordinary writer of cheap crime stories, Chandler became one of America's best writers from the mid 20th century. His fame was of course helped by Bogat and Bacall starring in the film "The Big Sleep" based on Chandler's first novel.

In any case, this is a book that is not to be missed by Chandler fans. It is simply excellent for anyone else.

Raymond Chander fans who associate the author's name only with that of his famous creation, Phillip Marlowe, will enjoy "The Simple Art Of Murder," a collection of Chandler stories originally published in everything from "Dime Detective" magazine to "The Saturday Evening Post." These stories, in which Marlowe as we know him is nowhere to be found, trace the evolution of Chandler's distinctive style and find him experimenting with various characters and points of view. Several stories feature third-person narration, contrary to the Marlowe novels' first-person perspective, and many stories feature protagonists who are obviously Marlowe prototypes. Naturally, all of the tales feature Chandler's poetic dialogue, remarkable descriptions, and enjoyably tangled plots. Highlights of the collection include "The Simple Art of Murder," an essay by the author on the nature of mystery-writing, and the haunting "I'll Be Waiting," in which a lonely hotel detective tries to help a beautiful guest and ends up paying a dearer price than he could ever have imagined. My personal favorite among the stories is the surprisingly funny "Pearls Are A Nuisance," which proves that Chandler really did have a sense of humor. Anyone looking for a fresh perspective on one of mystery's best writers should pick up "The Simple Art Of Murder."

The essay which gives this collection its title is the apotheosis of Chandler - the absolute distillation of the meaning of "Chandleresque" (or for that matter "Hammett-ness"). Here Chandler steps back from the creation of Noir fiction and, in a sometimes bitter or shrp way, comes down hard on the Hams and Part-timers of a literary form he believed to be worthy of elevation from the term genre.

Chandler chose to use the conventions of the Crime Novella format to his own - rather than any readership or editors - ends. Less monothematic than the given Short Story format, pre-flavoured with the expectations of the Crime buyer, the Novella and its narrow context of the stark contrasts of the Urban existence allow Chandler to define a notion of modern man and the modern morality of the individual in a socially dislocated environment - years before Welles and decades ahead of the Quention Tarantino's who currently tease us with the same issues and questions.

In "The Simple Art of Murder" the short stories and mini-novellas are sharp and compelling; in the title-giving essay, Chandler sits back and confesses to what compels him to write so. To paraphrase the author himself (speaking of Hammett for whom he had a great admiration), he took the art of murder from the counttry vicarage and "gave it back to the people on the street, to whom it really belonged anyway". Marlowe is silhouetted by his creator in his concluding idea of why a man such as him will always exist, why his morality must exist .. "down these mean streets a man must go, a man who is neither tarnished nor afraid...". Written with so much conviction that his argument stands up like a spoon in it, for this essay alone - and the future years of musing on and quoting whole tracts that will instantly lodge in your memory for ever - no-one interested in what underlies the fascination of "noir" should go down a dark alley at night without it.

Those years of the 30's gave us the incredible "pulp" magazines of several genres, basically adventure, western, science fiction, mystery and detective. The detective pulps such as "Black Mask" and "Dime Detective" were training grounds for the like of Erle Stanley Gardner, Dashell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.

This volume gives us Raymond Chandler's essay of the detective genre plus twelve novellas and short stories basically from the pulp magazines.

Four of these are Phillip Marlowe adventures, all written before the novels. Of these, "Goldfish" and "Trouble is My Business" truly stand out. However, there are three others: "Smart-Aleck Kill" with Johnny Dalmas, the notable "Guns at Cyrano's" with Ted Carmady, and "The King in Yellow" featuring hotel detective turned private eye Steve Grayce. Each of these three stories feature a very obvious antecedent to Phillip Marlowe.

Raymond Chandler is noted especially for his concise but rich descriptions of locale and also of characters. These are practically photographic descriptions. Also, there's Chandler's dialogue complete with sardonic humor and wisecracks. The plot is swift paced with nary a dull moment. He was well trained by BLACK MASK's editor who suggested that whenever the plot threatens to bog down, have a man with a gun in his hand walk into the scene.

Dashell Hammett and Raymond Chandler shaped the tough private eye genre which spawned Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Richard Prather's Shell Scott, Robert Parker's Spenser, and also today's police detective genre, most notably Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch.

Chandler termed this genre, as opposed to the more genteel Agatha Christy type of mystery, "realistic". Well, that's arguable. I don't know about you, but I don't ordinarily find dead bodies whenever I walk into an empty room, nor are the people who knock on my door likely to have guns in their hands, or even on their persons, so I question the "realistic" label. But these stories are good fun. The body count is rather high in most of the stories, and you can often figure out who the murderer is by eliminating the characters who get killed along the way.

Be that as it may, this volume is indeed highly recommended.

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 in this book because these are his earlier works. They appeared in magazines and he hadn't dreamt up Marlowe yet. But the stories are so worth reading. One of Chandler's gifts is his ability to describe people, places and the times without being at all boring. The net result is that, while you're reading, you're there, back in the Los Angeles of the 1930's and 40's, experiencing how it used to look, how it once felt, what life there was once like. It's almost intoxicating in its effects.

Those who have read some of the Philip Marlowe novels will find a couple of interesting things. With a little re-working, you'll find a couple of his short stories in the novels as chapters of the larger works.

One of the really interesting things about this particular collection is the opening work, not a story but an essay entitled "The Simple Art of Murder." It's Raymond Chandler's commentary on what it takes to write a good murder mystery and, believe it or not, it's a very interesting read. It's entertaining and insightful, not in the least bit dry, and proof positive that Chandler could really write. The man was truly gifted and not to read him is to missing something excellent indeed.

The phrase "pulp fiction" generally conveys something of lesser quality, trash, in fact. I'll never make that assumption again having read Raymond Chandler, master of the genre. Few authors in any genre have been able to write as well as he did.

I thought this was another Phillip Marlowe mystery, but it is actually an essay about writing mysteries, followed by a short story collection.

The essay is enlightening, but Chandler mocks his fellow mystery writers a bit too much, in my humble opinion. I don't enjoy reading people put down their colleagues. (I have to admit, though, he did have some valid points.) Also, there are spoilers in his comments for those who haven't read the books he mentions.

I guardedly recommend the short stories for Chandler fans. It's interesting to read the short stories so soon after reading the novels - you can definitely spot similarities, and it's easy to see how he could have used the short stories as a basis for his novels. If you're not a big Chandler fan or you've never read him, I wouldn't recommend starting with this one. For a fan, though, it's a must read.

(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, as it explains why and how Chandler wrote as he did.

All twelve stories (remember, this is the 1968 edition) are good and some are great. Though one of them, Goldfish, takes place mostly in Washington State, they all bring to life the dark, grittiness of Los Angeles' criminal netherworld. Finger Man, Goldfish, Red Wind and Trouble is My Business all feature the legendary private eye Phillip Marlowe. These are the 4 stories missing from the Black Lizard edition.

Nevada Gas differs from the rest of the stories in this collection in that the main character is not an investigator but rather a gambler named Johnny De Ruse. Except for the gentlemanly Walter Gage (Pearls are a Nuisance) all the protagonists of the remaining non-Marlowe stories are very Marlowe-like in personality. In fact, Johnny Dalmas (Smart-Aleck Kill) seems to differ from Phillip Marlowe in name only.

One of the best stories in The Simple Art Murder is Pick-Up on Noon Street. In it, Pete Anglisch, a narcotics detective deep undercover, rescues a vulnerable young woman caught up in a complex blackmail scheme. The captivating Red Wind is also very strongly written.

Just like the Phillip Marlowe novels which brought Chandler his well deserved fame, these hardboiled shorter works are characterized by great dialogue and very effective descriptive passages. Reading this collection gives one an appreciation for the intelligence and craftsmanship Raymond Chandler applied to his writing. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, I believe this is the last collection of Chandlers available.

This collection starts with an essay published in 1950 where he argues the virtues of the crime novel as literature and does a very good job . This essay was originally published in The Atlantic magazine.

After the essay there are eight short stories all originally published in the "pulps'. None feature Marlowe but the same moral code is apparent throughout.

There is one delightful story " Pearls are a Nuisance' which I think is a genuine hat tip to Dashiell Hammett and The Thin Man.

This collection was published while Chandler was still alive and are the best of the best as far as his short stories go.

He is an exceptional writer and its a real shame there are no more stories to discover.

Ross MacDonald wrote of his crime fiction mentor "Raymond Chandler" that he "...wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sunblinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence." L.A. is the main character in "The Simple Art of Murder" an excellent collection of short stories by Chandler. In these pages we meet tough shamuses. world weary dames, corrupt politicians and cops on the make. Though Phillip Marlowe is not to be seen in these pages most of the stories are seen through the eyes of a private dick who is immersed in a heap of trouble.
The stories in the collection are: Spanish Blood; I'll be Waiting; The King in Yellow; Pearls are a Nuisance' Pickup on Main Street; Smart-Aleck Kill; Guns at Cyrano's and Nevada Gas. All of this sordid and grim yarns include murder, slugging matches, taut dialogue and low life types.
You probably won't remember the convoluted plots but you will marvel at Chandler's ability to word pain the contents of a room; draw a Dickensian picture of a character in a few short lines and savor the ambience of decadent Los Angeles from the 1930s to post World War II. Rivers of alcohol are consumed in the stories; Chandler was himself a notorious alcoholic cutting down on his literary output and his screenwriting work for Hollywood.
The stories in this collection were culled from pulp fiction periodicals Chandler wrote for to keep the money coming into his home.
The Preface to the collectionis the much admired Chandlerian essay on "The Simple Art of Murder" in which he discusses the art of the crime story.
The more you read Chandler the more you will enjoy his mastery of the English language as it is spoken in the United States. Chandler makes ample use of metaphors, similies, slang and tough guy argot. Read him and relish the genius of the City of Angels chronicler of crime!

The stories are very good, although not as good as Chandler's more polished novels. Nevertheless, it's interesting to see the germs of some of his later ideas as they first appeared in short story form in magazines like Black Mask. The opening essay, entitled "The Simple Art of Murder," alone makes the collection worth it for its insight into the development of detective fiction, and the hard-boiled variety in particular. Chandler regarded the detective story as serious literature, and his essay no doubt influenced many critics to do the same. He remains one of the best detective story writers of all time - and a damn fine writer for any genre.