Farewell, My Lovely
First published 1940 · English · 230 pages
- Novels
- Mystery and crime
Philip Marlowe is passing through a Los Angeles street when a huge ex-convict named Moose Malloy bursts out of a bar, looking for Velma, the woman he loved before prison. Marlowe is drawn into the search, which leads through nightclubs, a stolen jewel case, fake mystics and corrupt officials. Chandler's second novel is rich in atmosphere and memorable characters, and mixes comedy, menace and sadness. It confirmed Marlowe as one of crime fiction's best-known detectives.
Quotes
[voiceover] The house itself wasn't much. It was smaller than Buckingham Palace and probably had fewer windows than the Chrysler building.
[voiceover] She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.
[voiceover, to himself] You've been beaten up, slapped, shot full of hop until you were as crazy as two waltzing mice; now let's see you do something really tough, like getting up.
[voiceover] It was one of those transient motels, something between a fleabag and a dive.