fadedpage.com

FP now includes 8255 eBooks in its collection.

  main page


The Simple Art of Murder

Cover Image

Book Details

Title:The Simple Art of Murder
Author:
Chandler, Raymond   
(9 of 10 for author by title)
Trouble is My Business
Playback
Published:   1950
Publisher:Houghton Mifflin Company
Tags:fiction, mystery, short stories
Description:

This is a collection of early short stories and an essay which gave the book its name. The latter is fairly short and its main idea is an argument for the virtues of a noir mystery as opposed to a traditional British one. Considering the fact that this comes from a guy who became a classic of the former even before his death and that he picked up some below the average examples of the latter, I agree.

The stories themselves left me out cold for the most part. I can actually describe the plot in practically all of them at once. A trouble starts involving a damsel in distress. A tough guy emerges (usually a PI or a good cop) who gets involved, gets knocked out, and shot at. It turns out the damsel in distress is a minor culprit which makes her a femme fatale. Everybody and their brother meet at the main villain place, a big shootout is insured. Everybody dies except for the tough guy with a heard of gold and the femme fatale who emerge unscratched; the latter escapes. The end. [Suggest a different description.]

Downloads:14,578
Pages:330 Info

Author Bio for Chandler, Raymond

Author Image

Due to his straitened financial circumstances during the Great Depression, Chandler turned to his latent writing talent to earn a living, teaching himself to write pulp fiction by studying the Perry Mason story formula of Erle Stanley Gardner. Chandler's first professional work, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in Black Mask magazine in 1933; his first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939, featuring his famous Philip Marlowe detective character speaking in the first person.

In 1950, Chandler described in a letter to his English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, why he began reading pulp magazines and later wrote for them:

Wandering up and down the Pacific Coast in an automobile I began to read pulp magazines, because they were cheap enough to throw away and because I never had at any time any taste for the kind of thing which is known as women's magazines. This was in the great days of the Black Mask (if I may call them great days) and it struck me that some of the writing was pretty forceful and honest, even though it had its crude aspect. I decided that this might be a good way to try to learn to write fiction and get paid a small amount of money at the same time. I spent five months over an 18,000 word novelette and sold it for $180. After that I never looked back, although I had a good many uneasy periods looking forward.

His second Marlowe novel, Farewell, My Lovely (1940), became the basis for three movie versions adapted by other screenwriters, including 1944's Murder My Sweet (which marked the screen debut of the Marlowe character), starring Dick Powell (whose depiction of Marlowe Chandler reportedly applauded). Literary success and film adaptations led to a demand for Chandler himself as a screenwriter. He and Billy Wilder co-wrote Double Indemnity (1944), based on James M. Cain's novel of the same name. The noir screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Said Wilder, "I would just guide the structure and I would also do a lot of the dialogue, and he (Chandler) would then comprehend and start constructing too." Wilder always acknowledged that the ramped-up dialogue which makes the film so memorable was largely Chandler’s.--Wikipedia.

Available Formats

UTF-8 text   20140930.txt
HTML20140930.html
Epub20140930.epubIf you cannot open a .mobi file on your mobile device, please use .epub with an appropriate eReader.
Mobi/Kindle20140930.mobiInfoNot all Kindles or Kindle apps open all .mobi files.
PDF (tablet)20140930-a5.pdf
HTML Zip20140930-h.zip

Kindle Direct (New, Experimental)

Send this book direct to your kindle via email. We need your Send-to-Kindle Email address, which can be found by looking in your Kindle device’s Settings page. All kindle email addresses will end in @kindle.com. Note you must add our email server’s address, [email protected], to your Amazon account’s Approved E-mail list. This list may be found on your Amazon account: Your AccountManage Your Content and DevicesPreferencesPersonal Document SettingsApproved Personal Document E-mail ListAdd a new approved e-mail address.

Send to Kindle Email Address:

This book is in the public domain in Canada, and is made available to you DRM-free. You may do whatever you like with this book, but mostly we hope you will read it.

Here at FadedPage and our companion site Distributed Proofreaders Canada, we pride ourselves on producing the best ebooks you can find. Please tell us about any errors you have found in this book, or in the information on this page about this book.