The High Window: A Novel (Philip Marlowe series Book 3)

Like all Raymond Chandler novels, The High Window features private detective Philip Marlowe as first-person narrator telling his story of events unfolding as he attempts to solve a case in sun-soaked Los Angeles. I marvel at the perceptiveness and cleverness of Philip Marlowe. Can anybody surpass Marlowe in his ability to see all the angles, to size people up, to catch all the clues, to ask the right questions, to crack wise at those times cracking wise is the wisest, to put the puzzle together so all the pieces fit in place? Maybe Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon, but that's about it. Oh, clever Odysseus, who fooled the Cyclopes, who heard the song of the sirens and lived to tell the tale, Raymond Chandler gave you a rebirth as LA private eye Philip Marlowe.For anybody unfamiliar with Chandler, here is a snatch of dialogue taking place in Marlowe's office when a member of a very rich family comes to speak with the detective:He looked me over without haste and without much pleasure. He blew some smoke delicately and spoke through it with a faint sneer."You're Marlowe?"I nodded."I'm a little disappointed," he said. "I rather expected something with dirty fingers.""Come inside," I said, "and you can be witty sitting down."I held the door for him and he strolled past me flicking cigarette ash on the floor with the middle nail of his free hand. He sat down . . . He leaned back in his chair with the smile of a bored aristocrat."All set?" I enquired. "Pulse and respiration normal?" You wouldn't like a cold towel on your head or anything."Through Marlowe, Chandler introduces us to a host of gangsters, crooks, con-artists, thugs, goons and their dames, who take turns planning, threatening and committing violence as if they were flesh-and-blood members of the weasel patrol from Toontown. Here is another bit of dialogue from The High Window where Marlowe watches from behind a curtain as a shady nightclub manager speaks to his wife after they find his wife's boyfriend shot in the head: Silence. Then the sound of a blow. The woman wailed. She was hurt, terribly hurt. Hurt in the depths of her soul. She made it rather good."Look, angel," Morny snarled. "Don't feed me the ham. I've been in pictures. I'm a connoisseur of ham. Skip it. You're going to tell me how this was done if I have to drag you around the room by your hair. Now - did you wipe off the gun?"Philip Marlowe is not only incredibly observant and perceptive to the point of being super-sharp, but he is also a highly intelligent, well-educated, highly moral man. From The High Window, two cases in point: when the name Heathcliff is mentioned, he knows the character is from Wuthering Heights; when someone shows him entries in a diary, he alludes to the diary of Samuel Pepys. This contrast between the crime and social grime of 1940s Los Angeles and the presence of Philip Marlow gives Chandler's work real abiding depth.There are hundreds of authors, some very good, who have written detective fiction or crime fiction. What sets Raymond Chandler apart is the polished literary language matching any American author, including the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, William Falkner. This is the prime reason I have included the above quotes and the reason I will end this review with another sparkling vintage Chandler quote, this one where Marlowe describes the woman he sees when being led by a tall, dark, olive skinned crook to the back yard of a suburban LA mansion: "A long-limbed languorous type of showgirl blond lay at her ease in one of the chairs, with her feet raised on a padded rest and a tall misted glass at her elbow, near a silver ice bucket and a Scotch bottle. She looked at us lazily as we came over the grass. From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away. Her mouth was too wide, her eyes were too blue, her makeup was too vivid, the thin arch of her eyebrows was almost fantastic in its curve and spread, and the mascara was so thick on her eyelashes that they looked like miniature iron railings."

Having read a lot of Raymond Chandler through the years and now, finally going back and re-reading everything with a more widened perspective on the genre, The High Window easily stands out as his finest work.The High Window, unlike a lot of genre Private Detective stories, which so many other authors have spent lifetimes struggling to copy and coming up short, keeps you guessing until the very end. Some authors give you a nibble about half way through a story and it falls apart in your lap and you figure it out. The High Window defies that solidly. You will be guessing about this one until the very end. Nothing is done ham-handedly or over-quick just to wrap it up either. This book could serve as a role model to other authors about how to write an ending, as I'm sure it has -- even if you don't write Detective Noir fiction.If you're reading this review and a certain Humphrey Bogart film brought you here, and you don't know much about Raymond Chandler, just know that he was and is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. During his lifetime however he was dismissed as just a regular struggling hack novelist, because of the Genre, and not given a lot of attention. A lot of other authors, like Philip K. Dick for instance, another Angelino, suffered greatly under this prejudice during their lifetime because of supposed conventionalities. Sometimes, looking back you just have to wonder if it really was a West Coast prejudice, where anything outside of the New York circle of authors was thought worthless, or the critics just didn't have enough insight into life. Probably both.The High Window moves very quickly, very smoothly, never misses a beat or falls flat for a single page. Chandler did drink a lot and it sometimes shows in his other novels, but with this effort you can see a lot of genius, planning and careful, methodic work ... just like the protagonist Philip Marlowe working a case.The dialogue is as witty as Farewell, My Lovely and the wisecracks are even sharper than The Big Sleep. This book is also absent of the one problem that I have Chandler and that is his disconnection of information from novel to novel. Some of his stories never mention a single word about anyone or anything from his other books, however, in The High Window, I underlined five direct references to his other works. These are nice touches and just things I like, because it's like going to a friends house and being able to recognize the furniture. The Little Sister does a better job with bringing out a familiar cadre of Policemen, but this book is seriously where it's at.The main thought regarding the story though is all about protection of the client and their anonymity. Marlowe knows that if he has to turn over and talk, he's pretty much out of a job. This is a story about just that and Marlowe goes to great lengths to protect that trust and Chandler does a deft job in making it a subtle undercurrent throughout the book, giving The High Window a sort of 'Moralist' back-drop. While he takes on only one paid client, it feels as if he makes an exercise in proving that his word is his bond with just about everyone he meets.Personally, this is easily my favorite Chandler novel to date.There's a few youtube links in the comments regarding some documentary footage concerning Chandler as well a Chandler interview with James Bond author Ian Fleming, where Chandler states that he believes himself to be one of the greatest living American writers -- and Fleming agrees. Fantastic stuff....

出だし、名文に思えますが。素人ですので、参考にならないかも

If there is any author who can combine a clever story, three dimensional characters, scenery, atmosphere, darkness yet brightness and wonderful turn of phrase like Raymond Chandler, I don't know them.I guess I'm a little too familiar with his other tales but this is superb.Highly recommended.

This is the third of Chandler's novels featuring hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe, and the first that I hadn't previously read as a kid. As a result I was coming to this book with an almost entirely fresh perspective. Nor was I disappointed.The High Window comes across as a much less convoluted story than the first two books, and we get a glimpse at Marlowe's sympathetic side when he takes an interest in the novel's damsel in distress. That said, we still get to see plenty of sass from the wise-cracking shamus as he goes on the trail of a missing coin, almost literally tripping over dead bodies along the way.Compared to the previous two books Chandler seems to have found his feet with this one, and I personally found his writing style more refined and more confident. The story seemed to flow more readily, and encounters that initially appear to be random and unconnected to the main case soon turn out to be deliberate and very much connected. By the end of the book the gal's been saved, the coin's been found, and even if not all of the killers are brought to justice, the whole mess has been wrapped up in a very neat bow by our hero.Out of the three Marlowe books I've read so far I would certainly count this as my favourite, and based on this would probably recommend it as the first one to read for anyone unfamiliar with Chandler's work.

Chandlers writing style really draws you in its so descriptive in every detail you can really picture the characters and locations. You can see why he receives so many plaudits Marlowe really does set the standard in crime fiction I’ll be reading the remaining 5 books in the series

A few months ago I was looking for a new reading experience. I sat down with the lap top and asked the internet to recommend me a good book. Somewhere in the search Raymond Chandler cropped up. I hadn't read him before although I have heard of him probably through the films. I decided to start with his first novel ' The big sleep'. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had found a new enjoyable reading experience. I haven't quite finished all the books but none of them have disappointed so far and that includes this one.Raymond Chandler had a particular style of writing, very much in the mid 20th century idiom of detective street talk. Somehow though it becomes enchantingly addictive the more I have read it. There are always plenty of twists turns as the stories unfold.Suffice to say I recommend these books to other readers looking for a good read.