bookreview

Raymond Chandler started writing after being sacked from his position as a top executive in an oil company for drunkenness and failing to turn up for work. His first stories were published in the 1930s in the pulp magazine Black Mask. In his own words, ‘I spent five months over an 18,000 word novelette and sold it for $180. After that I never looked back, although I had a good many uneasy periods looking forward.’ We have five of his novels in the library.