Often imitated but never bettered, it is in Marlowe's long shadow that every fictional detective must stand - and under the influence of Raymond Chandler's addictive prose that every crime author must write. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family - and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures.

Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married - until someone framed Malloy for armed robbery. Now his stretch is up and he wants Velma back. PI Philip Marlow meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help him.

The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing each other and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a rumination in the book about "sleeping the big sleep." (wikipedia.org)

An early morning call to a dying millionaire throws private eye Philip Marlowe into West Hollywood's hidden world of blackmail, menace and muscle. Knowing he must protect this man's daughters Marlowe didn't realise he would become so involved.

Her name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or leastways that's what she tells PI Philip Marlowe, offering him a measly twenty bucks for the privilege. But Marlowe's feeling charitable - though it's not long before he wishes he wasn't so sweet.

Terry Lennox's very rich wife is found with her brains all over the floor. Murderer or no murderer, Lennox is shaping up to cause plenty of trouble and trouble just happens to be Marlowe's line of work.

Stalking the tawdry neon wilderness of forties and fifties Los Angeles, Raymond Chandler's hard-drinking, wise-cracking Phillip Marlowe is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. Playback finds Marlowe mixing business with pleasure - getting paid to follow a mysterious and lovely red-head named Eleanor King.

Elizabeth Murdock has a rare gold coin to find called a Brasher Doubloon. That's the simple part - except that each time the Doubloon pops up, so does a murder. Soon Marlowe's got a full-scale tradedy on his hands.

Trouble is My Business is a collection of four riveting novellas from Raymond Chandler. In the first of the four cases in Trouble is My Business, LA PI Philip Marlowe is offered a job that leaves a bad taste in the mouth: smearing a girl who's 'got her hooks into a rich man's pup'. Before too long Marlowe's up to his neck in corpses and cops and he's taken pity on the girl. There's nothing like making trouble of your business...The four novellas collected here are quintessential Raymond Chandler: slick, crystal-clear writing that pins the reader to the seat and won't let go until the last...

It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that the author's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared. This title includes stories that range from the well-thumbed pages of 'Black Mask' and 'Dime Detective Magazine', including 'The Man Who Liked Dogs', 'The Lady in the Lake' and 'Bay City Blues'.