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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN num: 9780394758268
ISBN number: 0394758269
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: July 12, 1988
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: July 12, 1988
Sale Popularity Level: 85482
Studio: Vintage
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A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune—the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.
'Raymond Chandler is a star of the very first magnitude.'-- Erle Stanley Gardner
'Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement.' -- The New York Times
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Rated by buyers -
To be honest, it seems kind of silly giving this book only four stars. If you compare it to the vast majority of hardboiled or detective novels ever written, it would deserve five stars. It is only when it is compared to Chandler's other books that it falls short. This was his third novel, published after THE BIG SLEEP (which started the vogue for starting books and movies with the words "The Big") and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY. In none of those books is plot and story as important as Chandler's exquisite prose, his wonderfully detailed descriptions, or his magnificently decadent characters. But even so the plots of those two look brilliant compared to this one.
The number of problems with the plot of THE HIGH WINDOW is legion, but I'll highlight only two. Chandler wants Philip Marlowe to discover a body. There are a million ways to do this, but instead of something elegant and simple, Chandler creates incredibly unlikely scenarios whereby the future corpse gives Chandler a key to his apartment so that he won't be forced to wait around if he somehow doesn't happen to be there. This is such a cheap device that it is almost as if Chandler were trying to parody storytelling. Perhaps even sillier is a bizarre gun swap, in which the killer goes into a nearby apartment, finds a gun under the pillow of the tenant, and switches it with his own. Much of the subsequent story hinges on the strange gun swap.
So, as an example of plot, THE HIGH WINDOW is a failure. Nonetheless, there is still the prose. Although Chandler is unquestionably one of the most imitated writers in literary history, no one has quite been able to match his power with words. Marlow enters a club. "A check girl in peach-bloom Chinese pajamas came over to take my hat and disapprove of my clothes. She had eyes like strange sins." He prepares to question someone. "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." He describes the residents of Bunker Hill: "Out of the apartment houses come women who should be young but have faces like stale beer; men with pulled-down hats and quick eyes that look the street over behind the cupped hand that shields the match flame . . . people who look like nothing in particular and know it."
And there are the characters. Though the best characters in THE HIGH WINDOW are not as memorable as the many, many memorable characters in THE BIG SLEEP or FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, there are still several so striking as to not easily slip out of mind.
But substandard Chandler or not, he is one of those writers so brilliant and original that he deserves to be read in toto. One should read not this or that novel, but all of it, short stories included. He is one of the few writers to have played a major role in shaping our culture as a whole. But besides that, his books -- even the lesser ones -- are just a great, great read.
Rated by buyers 
-
Raymond Chandler is that rare sort of novelist who creates a world that sings with individuality while inviting others to join the fun. That, perhaps, is Chandler's greatest talent--he makes his world inviting while never pandering to prurient or common tastes. In A High Window, Philip Marlowe, Chandler's famous American icon of cynicism and subtle honor, is tasked with finding a rare coin and the person who stole it. His client is a bossy, asthmatic, hulk of a woman who downs glass after glass of port and who doesn't mind telling Marlowe her low opinion of his character and skills. Of course, she's wrong. And she's hiding all sorts of secrets of her own. As in all Philip Marlowe adventures, the ride is always more fun than the destination. When you read Raymond Chandler, you're lovingly dumped into a landscape filled with bums, dames, rich psychotics, corrupt cops, and sleazy hotel managers. And those are the ordinary people in his novels. Read A High Window. Get out your trenchcoat. Be sure to pack a .45. You're going to "noir" town.
Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets
Rated by buyers -
I love Raymond Chandler. And Marlowe, the joke cracking private eye who's tough on the outside and golden on the inside and who would be cliched except he's the original everyone else copied...it's vintage noir, hard-boiled action, the world without frills, a trail of murders and blackmail and robbery. It's flawed the way America's underbelly is flawed but it's always clear where Marlowe's sympathies lie...with the poor, the lost, the wicked, the desperate doing all they can to get out of poverty's trap. But he takes everyone as he finds them and gives them their due. It's a fast-paced quick read with suspenseful twists and turns that spin you through an L.A. that is still recognizable, and definitely the L.A. that I love.
Rated by buyers -
Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's classic noir hard-boiled private detective forever literarily associated with Los Angeles and its means streets is right at home here in his search for a missing family heirloom thought to have been 'taken' by an errrant family member. As always there are plots within plots and it is many a false lead and bump on the noggin' before the intrepid Marlowe puts this one to rest. As usual there is plenty of sparse but functional dialogue, physical action and a couple of plot twists, particularly around the motives of the parties involved. And where does this novel stand in relationship to the other Marlowe epics? Give me those background oil derricks churning out the wealth while looking for Rusty Regan in Big Sleep or the run down stucco flats in pursue of Moose's Velma in Farewell, My Lovely any day. Nevertheless, as always with Chandler, you get high literature in a plebian package. Read on.
Rated by buyers -
Wealthy widow Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock hired Philip Marlowe [These scenes show the literary flourishes necessarily absent from his short stories.] Mrs. Murdock wants Marlowe to retrieve a valuable item that was stolen by a member of her family; nobody is to be arrested (Chapter 2). This is a rare gold coin: the Brasher Doubloon. Mrs. Murdock believes her daughter-in-law took it when she left her son; she had been a night club singer. Marlowe begins to investigate the leads, and meets various people. Chandler's literary descriptions of the people provide background on the individuals. Complications arise from his interview with these various people. Soon a dead body is found (another private investigator). A package arrives for Marlowe - it has one gold coin (Chapter 12). But Mrs. Murdock no longer wants the coin (Chapter 13). The coin dealer is found dead (Chapter 14). The police think Marlowe is holding out on information on that private investigator (Chapter 16).
Chandler shows his skill at dialogue at the Idle Valley Patrol (Chapter 17). Linda returned to her old job. She said she didn't take the rare coin. Marlowe warns Mrs. Murdock about the police investigation and learns how the coin was returned (Chapter 20). There is a surprising confession to a murder (Chapter 23). [In those days you could park a car in the street and leave the keys in the lock (Chapter 28)!] Marlowe overhears a conversation about Louis Vannier (Chapter 30). Marlowe surmises what happened (Chapter 33). And there is another surprise (Chapter 34)! The last chapters tie up the loose ends.
This is a good story but I thought the ending was weak. Chandler uses the language of those days. The dollar figures date this novel.
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