The American author of detective fiction, Raymond Chandler created the private detective Philip Marlowe, characterized as a poor, yet honest upholder of ideals in an opportunistic and brutal world. In total, Chandler completed seven novels, all featuring Philip Marlowe as their hero, many of which were adapted for the silver screen as film noir classics. As a founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, Chandler was lionized by critics and leading writers, including W. H. Auden, Evelyn Waugh and Ian Fleming, who admired his literary prose and pithy dialogue. Chandler’s innovative approach helped redefine the private eye fiction genre, winning him the designation of the most lyrical of the major crime writers.* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Chandler’s life and works* Concise introductions to the novels and other texts* All 7 novels, with individual contents tables* Features the unfinished novel, ‘The Poodle Springs Story’, appearing here for the first time in digital publishing* Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts* Excellent formatting of the texts* Rare short stories available in no other collection* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the short stories* Easily locate the stories you want to read* Includes Chandler’s rare poetry, his first published works – available in no other eBook* Rare essays and reviews* Ordering of texts into chronological order and genresPlease note: Chandler’s film scripts and the short story ‘English Summer’ cannot appear in this edition, due to copyright restrictions.CONTENTS:The NovelsThe Big Sleep (1939)Farewell, My Lovely (1940)The High Window (1942)The Lady in the Lake (1943)The Little Sister (1949)The Long Good-bye (1953)Playback (1958)The Poodle Springs Story (1962)The Short StoriesThe Short Stories of Raymond ChandlerThe PoetryThe Poetry of Raymond ChandlerThe Non-FictionEssays and Reviews