The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler's classic hard-boiled mystery novel about murder (several, actually), pornography, blackmail, gambling and assorted other frivolities is our book this week on our "Classic Mysteries" podcast. Chandler's detective, Philip Marlowe, pretty well defines the genre - a hard-hitting, cynical (but sensitive, to be sure), smart, wise-cracking private eye who gets himself involved in a remarkable variety of dangerous and impossible situations. "The Big Sleep" was made into a great movie, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and its plot is so complex that even the author had to admit he never really knew who committed one of the murders. Details, as always, will be found on the podcast - which is linked directly from the right-hand column on this page.