Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) was an American novelist and screenwriter, born in Chicago. He spent much of his youth in England, where he was educated, before settling in California. He came to fiction relatively late, after working in business, and began publishing crime stories in pulp magazines in the 1930s. His first novel, The Big Sleep, appeared in 1939 and introduced the private detective Philip Marlowe, a wry, honourable man moving through a corrupt Los Angeles. Chandler also worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter. He wrote only a handful of novels, but they raised the hardboiled detective story to a serious literary form, with vivid similes, sharp dialogue and a strong sense of place and mood. His essay on the craft of crime writing remains widely read. His influence can be seen in later crime fiction, film noir and countless detectives who walk down mean streets.