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Killer In The Rain (1935)

by Raymond Chandler(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0241956315 (ISBN13: 9780241956311)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Penguin Books

review 1: When you're a struggling writer just starting out, it can be hell getting anything published, even if your stories are better than anything else on the market. When you become a "famous writer," editors are not only eager to publish your new stories but are willing to take a look at past efforts, even to publish novels based on what you previously wrote, but you still have control over what is and is not published. However, when you're a "great writer" who is now sleeping the big sleep, you lose all control over your own fiction and anyone can publish anything, whether you like it or not. And that is how "Killer in the Rain" came into being, a collection of eight short stories that Chandler had previously published in pulp magazines but which he did not include in collect... moreions of his short stories or, knowingly, in anthologies because he had "cannibalized" them to create three of the novels for which is most well known -- "The Big Sleep," "Farewell, My Lovely," and "The Lady in the Lake."As you read through these stories you will be assaulted by a heavy sense of deja vu, even though many of the name and situations are different. And though the detective at the hearts of these stories is either unnamed or called Carmady or something, you could easily change it to Marlowe without changing anything about the story or the established character of Philip Marlowe. Of course, the reason, officially, for bringing out these stories against Chandler's long-standing opposition is to give fans and critics a look at the source stories that create three classic detective novels; the real reason -- it's just business.Reading these stories will not change your opinion about Raymond Chandler, to the good or the bad. They are good stories, fine examples of the genre, well written and worth reading by anyone's standards. But I don't think you'll learn anything about Chandler that you didn't know before, or appreciate the resultant novels any more or less. But it is a chance to read something from Chandler's typewriter that will seem...almost new.
review 2: This collection of stories is an enjoyable read from Chandler, although some of the material might feel familiar as a few of the stories were incorporated into novels The Big Sleep, Lady In The Lake and Farewell My Lovely (I have yet to read the latter novel). For this reason my reading was both tainted with familiarity but also the writer-side of me was fascinated as to how the stories were later developed and novelised. My favourite here is Mandarin's Jade, but throughout the book the prose is succinct and brilliantly precise and each of these tales has something to recommend it. less

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