The Long Goodbye (1953) is a milestone in the genre. This novel demonstrated for the first time that hard-boiled fiction could serve as a vehicle for social comment and critique. While the apparent plot is slower paced and less metaphoric than Chandler's previous novels, the revealed plot shows him using his own life as a material, an autobiographical turn that prepared the way for Ross Macdonald.Marlowe meets and befriends English expatriate Terry Lennox, a drunk who has been abandoned by his ex-wife Sylvia, at The Dancers Club. Months later he spots Lennox drunk again, runs him home, and sobers him up, giving him traveling money to Las Vegas. Lennox sends repayment and re-marries Sylvia, after which Marlowe shares an occasional drink with him: during one, Lennox accuses Sylvia of infidelity. He next appears at Marlowe's door in flight to Tijuana, apparently because he has killed her. Marlowe drives him there and stonewalls policemen Green and Dayton when he returns, spending time in jail. He refuses to cooperate with a lawyer sent by Sylvia's millionaire father, local magnate Harlan Potter.Marlowe won't talk even after the D.A. says that Lennox wrote a full confession before shooting himself in Mexico. A reporter suggests to him that there is a cover-up, which is confirmed by calls from the lawyer and warnings from gangster Mendy Menendez, an old friend of Lennox, who explains that Lennox was captured by the Nazis during World War II. Marlowe gets a letter from Lennox, which waffles on his role in the murder and contains a $5,000 bill.A second apparent plot begins when Howard Spencer, a publisher's representative, hires Marlowe to baby-sit hack novelist Roger Wade (Chandler's self-portrait). The alcoholic writer can't finish his novel and is missing, but his stunning blonde wife Eileen provides a note about "Dr. V" and details of Wade's stays at drunk farms. Marlowe gets information on these places from an old friend in a big agency and narrows his list to three suspects. None pan out except Dr. Verringer, who is about to sell out so that he can support a manic-depressive named Earl. Spying Wade through a window, Marlowe saves him from crazy Earl. For this he collects a kiss from Eileen, and he learns that she knew Sylvia Lennox, which links the two plots.A lull follows, during which Marlowe meets Sylvia's sister Linda Loring and her insufferable doctor husband. They argue about Sylvia's murder and whether Harlan Potter wants the case closed, but a respectful friendship ensues. Marlowe sees the Lorings again at Roger Wade's cocktail party, where the doctor accuses the novelist of sleeping with his wife. A scene follows, but Wade handles the blow-up well. Marlowe, however, won't accept $1,000 to nanny the author through his novel. He doesn't like the writer's ego or his wife, who tells him her own story of true love lost.A week later Wade calls for help, and Marlowe arrives to find him collapsed in front of his house, with Eileen sitting nearby smoking. He and the house-boy put Wade to bed, and Marlowe walks away from an opportunity with Eileen. Instead he collects Wade's drunken notes to gain insight into his problems. Then there's a shot. Marlowe finds husband and wife struggling over a gun, the novelist claiming he attempted suicide. Dosed with drugs, he finally sleeps. Eileen invites Marlowe into her bed, but he declines.Linda Loring introduces Marlowe to Harlan Potter, who wants the Lennox murder closed. Marlowe demurs. Now information develops that Lennox used to call himself Paul Marston, and that Roger Wade had an affair with Sylvia. Marlowe, at the Wades with Eileen, finds the writer dead. His old friend Lt. Ohls treats the case as a suicide, but Eileen accuses Marlowe. More comes out about Lennox's former life: he was married to Eileen and presumed dead in World War I, so she married Wade. But then he reappeared and she panicked.In the revealed plot, she killed both Sylvia and Roger. Lennox' name is cleared. Linda Loring divorces her obnoxious husband and asks Marlowe to marry her; he refuses to be a kept man, but does spend a night with her, the only woman Marlowe ever beds (aside from Helen Vermilyea in Chandler's better-off-forgotten swan song, Playback. There's a final detail to check and it's supplied by Senor Maioranos ("Mr. Better-years"), who is Terry Lennox in disguise. He and Marlowe talk, but the old affection is gone. As Marlowe said of Linda Loring's departure, "to say goodbye is to die a little."As he had in the preceding The Little Sister (1949), Chandler engaged in pointed social criticism in The Long Goodbye, stretching the genre. The brunt of his attack is born by the rich: Marlowe sees their enterprises – business, the press, gambling interests, lawyers, and the courts – forming a monolith that disenfranchises the average citizen. "Money tends to have a life of its own, even a conscience of its own," says villain Harlan Potter, who is the ironic spokesman for many of Chandler's views (190-91). The roots of crime lie not with nymphomaniacs (as in The Big Sleep) or in economic climbing (Farewell's Velma Valento), but in big money's exploitation of the lowest-common-denominator effect of mass institutions and democracy. This, Chandler finally decided, rather than some inherently debilitating effect of the setting, robs immigrants to L.A. of the admirable independence that drew them there.More interesting still is the way Chandler used the novel, which he wrote as his wife lay dying, to analyze and comment on his own life. Like Terry Lennox, Chandler was a soldier scarred by World War I, whose young days at Dabney Oil were full of big cars and illicit affairs. Like Roger Wade, he had become a middle-aged, childless, self-hating, alcoholic, celebrity writer. Like Philip Marlowe, Chandler clung in conscience to early ideals, belief in character, fidelity, and respect for creation. The novel detests the very self-pity that propels it. Can Chandler integrate the parts of his life? Marlowe's last words to Lennox are "So long, Senor Maioranos. Nice to have known you – however briefly" (311). The final answer is no. It is no accident that Terry Lennox and Roger Wade never appear together, but rather a psychological impossibility. That a woman undoes both is Chandler's old saw, but secondary here. "Your husband is a guy who can take a long hard look at himself and see what is there," says Marlowe to Eileen. "Most people go through life using up half their energy trying to protect a dignity they never had" (153). Not until Ross Macdonald would the hard-boiled novel again be exploited for autobiographical insight so sharply.

From Ancient Rome through thirteenth-century Venice to 1930s' New York, twelve compelling historical crime stories.Our dark past brought to life by leading contemporary crime writersA new generation of crime writers has broadened the genre of crime fiction, creating more human stories of historical realism, with a stronger emphasis on character and the psychology of crime.This superb anthology of 12 novellas encompasses over 4,000 years of our dark, criminal past, from Bronze Age Britain to the eve of the Second World War, with stories set in ancient Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, medieval Venice, seventh-century Ireland and 1930s' New York.A Byzantine icon painter, suddenly out of work when icons are banned, becomes embroiled in a case of deception; Charles Babbage and the young Ada Byron try to crack a coded message and stop a master criminal; and New York detectives are on the lookout for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

From Ancient Rome through thirteenth-century Venice to 1930s' New York, twelve compelling historical crime stories.Our dark past brought to life by leading contemporary crime writersA new generation of crime writers has broadened the genre of crime fiction, creating more human stories of historical realism, with a stronger emphasis on character and the psychology of crime.This superb anthology of 12 novellas encompasses over 4,000 years of our dark, criminal past, from Bronze Age Britain to the eve of the Second World War, with stories set in ancient Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, medieval Venice, seventh-century Ireland and 1930s' New York.A Byzantine icon painter, suddenly out of work when icons are banned, becomes embroiled in a case of deception; Charles Babbage and the young Ada Byron try to crack a coded message and stop a master criminal; and New York detectives are on the lookout for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The hidden life of Sherlock Holmes’s most famous adversary is reimagined and revealed by the finest crime writers today.Some of literature’s greatest supervillains have also become its most intriguing antiheroes—Dracula, Hannibal Lecter, Lord Voldemort, and Norman Bates—figures that capture our imagination. Perhaps the greatest of these is Professor James Moriarty. Fiercely intelligent and a relentless schemer, Professor Moriarty is the perfect foil to the inimitable Sherlock Holmes, whose crime-solving acumen could only be as brilliant as Moriarty’s cunning.While “the Napoleon of crime” appeared in only two of Conan Doyle’s original stories, Moriarty’s enigma is finally revealed in this diverse anthology of thirty-seven new Moriarty stories, reimagined and retold by leading crime writers such as Martin Edwards, Jürgen Ehlers, Barbara Nadel, L. C. Tyler, Michael Gregorio, Alison Joseph and Peter Guttridge. In these intelligent, compelling stories—some frightening and others humorous—Moriarty is brought back vividly to new life, not simply as an incarnation of pure evil but also as a fallible human being with personality, motivations, and subtle shades of humanity.Filling the gaps of the Conan Doyle canon, The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty is a must-read for any fan of the Sherlock Holmes’s legacy.

“‘Is it really possible, do you suppose,’ said Sherlock Holmes to me one morning, as we took breakfast together, ‘that a healthy and robust man may be so stricken with terror that he drops down dead?’”The much praised Denis O. Smith introduces twelve new Sherlockian stories in this collection, including “The Adventure of the XYZ Club,” “The Secret of Shoreswood Hall,” and “The Adventure of the Brown Box.” Set in the late nineteenth century before Holmes’s disappearance at the Reichenbach Falls, these stories, written in the vein of the originals, recreate Arthur Conan Doyle’s world with deft fidelity, from manner of speech and character traits to plot unfoldings and the historical period. Whether in fogbound London or deep in the countryside, the world’s most beloved detective is brought vividly back to life in all his enigmatic, compelling glory, embarking on seemingly impenetrable mysteries with Dr. Watson by his side.For readers who can never get enough of Holmes, this satisfyingly hefty anthology builds on the old Conan Doyle to develop familiar characters in ways the originals could not. Both avid fans and a new generation of audiences are sure to be entertained with this continuation of the Sherlock Holmes legacy.

The first of Tey's Inspector Grant mysteries concerns the murder of an unknown man, apparently struck down as he stands in a ticket queue for a London musical comedy. Grant tenaciously pursues his suspects throughout the length of Britain and the labyrinth of London.

The death of the pilot was as indisputable as the loss of the plane. The status of the passengers was more difficult to define…

Four men had arranged to fly to Dublin. When their aeroplane descended as a fireball into the Irish Sea, only three of them were on board. With the identities of the passengers lost beneath the waves, a tense and perplexing investigation begins to determine the living from the dead, with scarce evidence to follow beyond a few snippets of overheard conversation and one family’s patchy account of the three days prior to the flight.

Who was the man who didn’t fly? What did he have to gain? And would he commit such an explosive murder to get it? First published in 1955, Bennett’s ingenious mystery remains an innovative and thoroughly entertaining inversion of the classic whodunit.

This edition also includes the rare short story “No Bath for the Browns” and an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award winning author Martin Edwards.

Test your own powers of deduction alongside those of the most celebrated detective ever to walk the streets of London or grace the pages of a book. Sherlock Holmes brings his extraordinary insight and intriguing quirks to every case he is called upon to solve—sometimes without even leaving the comfort of his Baker Street apartment. In this collection of 23 ingeniously plotted stories, no case is too big, too small, or too bizarre for Holmes. Whether he is foiling the grand schemes of a would-be bank robber or uncovering family secrets kept hidden away for years, Sherlock Holmes at all times proves himself a formidable adversary. With his trusted and always-admiring friend, Dr. Watson, at his side, “the most perfect reasoning and observing machine the world has ever seen” uses his unique analytical gifts to confound every criminal and unravel every mystery.

Silver BlazeThe Yellow FaceThe Stockbroker's ClerkThe "Gloria Scott"The Musgrave RitualThe Reigate PuzzleThe Crooked ManThe Resident PatientThe Greek InterpreterThe Naval TreatyThe Final Problem

Robert Goldsborough returns with his seventh stunning Nero Wolfe novel. Follow along into Wolfe’s famed West Thirty-fifth Street brownstone, where the corpulent orchid-tending genius devours meals, books, and murderers with a passion — and where this time he gets the chance to send a writer’s killer to the pen.Charles Childress, the author tapped to continue the beloved Sergeant Barnstable detective stories when the originator died, may not have been the most gifted writer in the world, but he did have his talents... Contentious, combative, and exceedingly vengeful, Childress had an unsurpassed way of making enemies. Which is why, when the police write off his death as suicide, his publisher, Horace Vinson, comes to Nero Wolfe. Vinson knows all too well that in the cutthroat world of publishing, the competition can be murder.Wolfe, however, is not so easily convinced... or distracted from his more genteel pursuits. After all, the evidence does conform to the official version of the killing: The gun found at the crime scene not only belonged to the victim but bore only his fingerprints. Perhaps Childress finally contrived a successful climax... as the author of his own death.But Archie Goodwin, Wolfe’s ever-faithful friend and partner; points out that Vinson’s fee would keep the big man in beer and bouillabaisse for some time to come. That is a reality Nero Wolfe can’t refuse, and soon Archie is posing questions that turn up a whole cast of character assassins, including Childress’s ex-editor and agent, his most scathing critic, and his icily beautiful, ambitious fiancée — each of whom would have taken great pleasure in writing the final chapter in the life of Charles Childress.And then, in a plot twist any auteur would envy, Archie gets wind of the involvement of a mysterious kissing cousin from Childress’s past. Could this be a case of a small-town girl come to right an old wrong? It’s a conundrum so novel even the reluctant Nero Wolfe can’t resist... as extortion, deceit, and jealousy come together in a perfect potboiler of revenge — and murder.

Four previously uncollected stories from one of the great mystery writers of our time --swift, cunning murder mysteries (two of which feature the young Adam Dalgliesh) that together, to borrow the author's own word, add up to a delightful "entertainment."

The newly appointed Sgt. Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is "pure Agatha Christie." . . . A "pedantic, respectable, censorious" clerk's secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a murder . . . A best-selling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier . . . Dalgliesh's godfather implores him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather's mind about an inheritance, but which will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Adam Dalgliesh will keep to himself. Each of these stories is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author's sly humor as evident as her hallmark narrative...

What is it about Nero Wolfe, the food-loving and orchid-fancying misogynist, that draws the most attractive, wealthy, and desperate females to his office? Could it possibly be his leg-man, Archie Goodwin? Archie, at least, is in for another reward in this latest of Nero’s cases, and readers who have followed Archie’s hairbreadth escapes from entrapment in the past will be left wondering at the end of this one. But not about who is guilty of the murders that follow Lucy Valdon’s first visit to West 35th Street. It’s a matter of maternity that brings her, and the trail that is blazed by a few handmade horsehair buttons has the rare effect of leading Nero out of his habitat and forcing him to set up shop outside. There, after grueling hardships, he accomplishes his purpose with his usual aplomb and to the entire satisfaction of the reader.

Here is another topnotch mystery by the author of TOO MANY COOKS and SOME BURIED CAESAR. In this story of Wyoming, silver mining, politics and murder, Rex Stout has brought to vigorous life a group of new characters. Not all of them are nice, but all of them are memorable.When Delia Brand planned to murder Preacher Rufus Toale, she thought she would be meting out justice for the murder of her father and the suicide of her mother. But when she went to Dan Jackson’s office at ten o’clock that night she only wanted to keep Jackson from firing her sister. She found Jackson dead and she found her gun on the table beside him.Delia couldn’t murder Rufus Toale because she was arrested for a murder she didn’t commit. That was the beginning of a series of events that had great repercussions. It was almost too late when Wynne Cowles, divorcee, told Delia what Mountain Cat really meant.