BOOKS

After seven years writing for pulp magazines, Raymond Chandler published his first novel The Big Sleep at the age of 51, a success that led to seven iconic works that raised crime fiction to literature.

NOVELS

The Big Sleep

(1939)

Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family and uncovers blackmail, violence, and layered secrets beneath Los Angeles respectability.

The Big Sleep,1939. Published by Hamish Hamilton, 1939.

Farewell, My Lovely

(1940)

A search for a lost love turns into a brutal case involving corruption, deception, and shifting identities.

Farewell, My Lovely, 1940. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1940.

The High Window

(1942)

A missing rare coin draws Marlowe into a household of lies, greed, and murder.

The High Window, 1942. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1942.

The Lady in the Lake

(1943)

A missing wife case leads from the city into darker, more isolated places, where the truth is buried deep.

The Lady in the Lake,1943. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1943.

The Little Sister

(1949)

Hollywood glamour masks exploitation and blackmail as Marlowe follows a trail of danger through the film world.

The Little Sister,1949. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1988.

The Long Goodbye

(1953)

A story of friendship and betrayal in which Marlowe confronts the cost of loyalty and the compromises of modern life.

The Long Goodbye,1953. Published by Deckle Edge, 1988.

Playback

(1958)

Marlowe trails a woman with a hidden past, uncovering a tightly wound plot of identity, pursuit, and fatal choices.

Playback 1958. Published by Penguin, 2011.

Poodle Springs

(Unfinished; published posthumously)

An unfinished late Marlowe novel exploring class, marriage, and corruption in a changing Los Angeles..

Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler and Robert Parker Published by G. P. Putnam Sons, 1989.

SHORT STORIES & COLLECTIONS

The Simple Art of Murder

(collection)

Chandler’s defining short fiction, showcasing the origins of his style and the hard-boiled tradition.

Trouble Is My Business

(collection)

A major gathering of stories that capture Chandler’s early voice, violence, and atmosphere.

The Complete Short Stories

(Everyman’s Library)

A collected edition presenting Chandler’s short fiction in a single volume.

The Annotated The Big Sleep

An annotated edition offering contextual notes and supporting material for Chandler’s first Marlowe novel.

CONTINUATION NOVELS (Authorized Marlowe)

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: A Celebration

(1989)

Edited by Byron Preiss

Tribute story collection

A collection of new Philip Marlowe stories by contemporary crime writers, created as a tribute to Chandler and his detective rather than as a single continuous novel.

Poodle Springs

(1989)

Author: Raymond Chandler & Robert B. Parker

Continuation novel / completion of Chandler’s work

Newly married and uneasily wealthy, Philip Marlowe is drawn from Palm Springs society into a murder case involving class tension, corruption, and a vanished man.

Perchance to Dream

(1991)

Author: Robert B. Parker

Continuation novel

Set after The Big Sleep, Marlowe is hired to find the troubled Carmen Sternwood after she disappears from a private institution, leading him back into the Sternwood family’s dangerous orbit.

The Black-Eyed Blonde

(2014)

Author: Benjamin Black (John Banville)

Continuation novel

A seductive young heiress hires Marlowe to find her former lover, but the case soon opens onto blackmail, deceit, and violence in postwar California.

Only to Sleep

(2018)

Author: Lawrence Osborne

Continuation novel

An older Marlowe, now in 1980s Baja California, investigates the suspicious death of a wealthy man supposedly drowned at sea and uncovers a web of fraud, desire, and reinvention.

The Goodbye Coast

(2022)

Author: Joe Ide

Continuation / reimagining novel

Joe Ide reimagines Marlowe in contemporary Los Angeles, where two linked missing-person cases pull the wisecracking detective into celebrity culture, violence, and family secrets.

The Second Murderer

(2023)

Author: Denise Mina

Continuation novel

Marlowe searches for a missing heiress while competing with Anne Riordan, tracing the case from Beverly Hills to Skid Row before it turns into a murder investigation.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Chandler: Red Tide

(1976)

Writer / Adapter: Jim Steranko
Artist: Jim Steranko
English / USA
Illustrated noir / proto‑graphic novel

Inspired by Raymond Chandler (not a direct adaptation)

Hybrid prose and comic artwork; homage to Chandler’s detective fiction style.

Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe: The Authorized Graphic Novel

(2003)

Writer / Adapter: Tom De Haven; additional adaptations by Jerome Charyn and others
Artist: Michael Lark; additional artists including David Lloyd, Ryan Hughes, Alfredo Alcala
English / USA
Graphic novel / anthology

Original Marlowe story plus adaptations of Chandler short stories.

Includes comic adaptations of ‘The Pencil’, ‘Goldfish’, and ‘Trouble Is My Business’.

Playback (graphic adaptation)

(2004)

Writer / Adapter: François Ayroles
Artist: Ted Benoît
English / France/Belgium
Graphic novel adaptation

Based on Playback (1958 novel).

Franco‑Belgian bande dessinée adaptation of Chandler’s final completed Philip Marlowe novel.

Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business

(2025)

Writer / Adapter: Arvind Ethan David
Artist: Ilias Kyriazis
Pantheon / English / USA
Graphic novel adaptation

Based on Trouble Is My Business (1939 short story)

Modern graphic novel adaptation expanding Chandler’s short story featuring Philip Marlowe.

LETTERS & SELECTED WRITINGS

The Simple Art of Murder

(essay/nonfiction)

Chandler’s classic essay on crime fiction, style, and the moral seriousness of the detective story.

The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler

(1976)

Editor: Frank MacShane

Notebooks / Primary Material

Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler

(1981)

Editor: Frank MacShane

Letters

Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction

(2000)

Editors: Tom Hiney & Frank MacShane

Letters / Essays

BIOGRAPHIES

Raymond Chandler Speaking

(1962)

Editors: Dorothy Gardiner & Katherine Sorley Walker

Letters / Essays

The Life of Raymond Chandler

(1976)

Author: Frank MacShane

Biography

Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles

(1987)

Editors: Elizabeth M. Ward & Alain Silver

Photo / Place Study

Raymond Chandler: A Biography

(1997)

Author: Tom Hiney

Biography

Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir

(2000)

Author: Gene D. Phillips

Critical Study (Film / Noir)

A Reader’s Guide to Raymond Chandler

(2001)

Author: Toby Widdicombe

Reference / Guide

Philip Marlowe’s Guide to Life

(2005)

Author: Robert G. Porfirio

Marlowe Study

Characters and plot in the Fiction of Raymond Chandler

(2010)

Author: Robert L. Gale

Reference / Criticism

The World of Raymond Chandler

(2011)

Author: Barry Day

Literary Study

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe The hard-boiled Detective Transformed

(2011)

Author: John Paul Athanasourelis

Raymond Chandler: A Mysterious Something in the Light

(2012)

Author: Tom Williams

Biography

The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles

(2014)

Author: Kim Cooper

Map / Guide

Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality

(2016)

Author: Fredric Jameson

Critical Study

AUDIO & RADIO

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

(1947–1951)

Radio Series

Primary Performers: Van Heflin; Gerald Mohr
Author: Various (Chandler stories)
Producer: Various (Chandler stories)

Classic American radio detective series with over 100 episodes.

The BBC Presents: Philip Marlowe

(1977–1978; 1988)

Radio Drama

Primary Performer: Ed Bishop
Adapter: Bill Morrison
Producer: BBC

Dramatisations of Chandler novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.

Classic Chandler

(2011)

Radio Drama

Primary Performer: Toby Stephens
Adapter: Various adapters
Producer: BBC Radio 4

Modern BBC dramatisations of the Marlowe novels.