The Long Goodbye
By Raymond Chandler
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, Paperback, 9780394757681, August 1988, 384pp.
The Short of It:
An amusing read.
The Rest of It:
Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he’s divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. and now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe. ~ From Indiebound
The Long Goodbye is my book club’s selection for this month and it was a nice change of pace. We don’t read much crime fiction and I’ve never read anything by Chandler before so I was pretty excited to finally give him a go.
After just a few chapters, I could tell that it would be a book that I’d enjoy. It’s a good read full of wry humor and the story is not bad either. There are a few twists and although The Long Goodbye is one of many books in the Philip Marlowe series, I never felt as if I was missing any background on the character.
I enjoyed the Los Angeles setting and Marlowe’s sharp-witted humor. Plus, as far as crime-fiction goes, I appreciated the simple story line and the lack of red herrings. It still had me guessing, but without all the fanfare that you get in some other crime-fiction novels.
It was pure fun and I will not hesitate to pick up another book in the series.
Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
this is one I probably would not have tried if you didn’t review it. Your enthusiasm shines:)
It’s fun and I liked Chandler’s use of humor.
That does sound like a nice change of pace.
Have you read Chandler before? I think you would enjoy the series.
That’s a throwback! I haven’t read Chandler before, but if one lives in LA he’s probably a must. The book’s fun but not too dated?
The language dates it but it’s kind of charming in that regard. You know… like watching an old movie is once in awhile.
I’ve read a couple of Chandler but not this one. He has great style.
Style… yes. Someone in my book club mentioned “code” but I think she was referring to Marlowe the character, not Chandler but I think Chandler has a code as well. I really enjoyed the humor.
I have never read anything by Chandler either. I suspect this is a deficit I must remedy!
You and I have the same sense of humor. You need to read Chandler.
Amusing reads serve a purpose too 🙂 And I do enjoy a story set in LA (which, to me, is as exotic as Rome is to you, btw) As I said, I’ll look into trying Chandler for myself 🙂
Chandler’s one of those writers that I’ve always wanted to read. Glad you got the chance and shared it with us.
I’ve never read any Chandler. That really is going old school – we should probably do that more often!
I love reading fun books for the summer months…stuff that has the pages flying!