Raymond Chandler

American novelist and screenwriter (1888–1959)

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Lived 1888–1959, aged 71United States

United States WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
66 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1888–1959
Aged 71
Known for
Double Indemnity
1944

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He invented the voice American crime fiction still speaks in — hard-boiled, lyrical, cynical enough to ache. Philip Marlowe, his private detective, became the template: wised-up and heartbroken, walking mean streets without becoming mean himself.

Biography

About

Raymond Thornton Chandler came to detective writing late, at forty-four, after the Depression cost him his oil executive job in 1932. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", appeared in Black Mask in 1933; The Big Sleep followed in 1939. He published seven novels in his lifetime, nearly all adapted to film, some more than once. Alongside Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain, he founded the hardboiled school, but his stylistic influence ran deeper — a blend of toughness and unexpected poetry that reshaped American popular literature. The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers' As…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

said19 Apr 1951

The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man.

— letter, 19 April 1951, published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962)

Raymond Chandler

said1950

When you read a story, you accept its implausibilities and extravagances, because they are no more fantastic than the conventions of the medium itself.

— "About the screenplay for Strangers on a Train" (notes, 1950), first published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962), section "Chandler on

Raymond Chandler

said1950

[As a screenwriter] I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind.

— "A Qualified Farewell" (essay, early 1950's), published in The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler (1976)

Raymond Chandler

said1949

The solution, once revealed, must seem to have been inevitable. At least half of all the mystery novels published violate this law.

— "Casual Notes on the Mystery Novel" (essay, 1949), first published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962)

Raymond Chandler

said1949

Love interest nearly always weakens a mystery because it introduces a type of suspense that is antagonistic to the detective's struggle to solve the problem.

— "Casual Notes on the Mystery Novel" (essay, 1949), first published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962)

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