The Big Sleep: A NovelThe renowned novel from the crime fiction master, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe. • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. “Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious.” —The New York Times Book Review |
Contents
7 | |
Section 2 | 17 |
Section 3 | 22 |
Section 4 | 27 |
Section 5 | 39 |
Section 6 | 43 |
Section 7 | 51 |
Section 8 | 68 |
Section 13 | 119 |
Section 14 | 135 |
Section 15 | 153 |
Section 16 | 159 |
Section 17 | 180 |
Section 18 | 190 |
Section 19 | 198 |
Section 20 | 203 |
Section 9 | 85 |
Section 10 | 89 |
Section 11 | 99 |
Section 12 | 104 |
Section 21 | 215 |
Section 22 | 221 |
Section 23 | 233 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Agnes Arthur Gwynn asked beside BIG SLEEP blonde breath brown Canino Captain Gregory Carmen chair Chan mous chin cigar cigarette close coat corner Cronjager croupier dark desk drink dropped Eddie Mars eyes face feet fingers floor front garage Geiger giggled girl glass gray grifter grinned guess hair hand hard Harry Jones head Joe Brody killed killer knew last night laughed leaned light lips looked Marlowe Missing Persons mouth moved nice nodded Ohls Okey Philip Marlowe pocket police porte-cochere pulled pushed racket rain RAYMOND CHANDLER Realito Rusty Regan sedan shot shut side slowly smell smile smoke sound stared steps Sternwood stood street sure tall teeth tell There's thought thumb told took totem pole turned Vivian walked wall West Hollywood wheel Wilde window
Popular passages
Page 3 - IT WAS ABOUT ELEVEN O'CLOCK in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.
Page 3 - Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn't have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair.
Page 10 - I'm thirty-three years old, went to college once and can still speak English if there's any demand for it. There isn't much in my trade.
Page 5 - Her eyes were slate-gray, and had almost no expression when they looked at me. She came over near me and smiled with her mouth and she had little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pith and as shiny as porcelain. They glistened between her thin too taut lips. Her face lacked color and didn't look too healthy. "Tall, aren't you?