Farewell, My Lovely

Author Bio: Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) published his first story in 1933 in the pulp magazine Black Mask. By the time he published his first novel, The Big Sleep in 1939, featuring, as did all his major works, the iconic private eye Philip Marlowe, it was clear that he had not only mastered a genre but had set a standard to which others could only aspire. In addition to his short stories, he published only seven novels during his life. He created a body of work that ranks with the best of twentieth-century literature and at his death had established himself as the finest crime writer in America.