Pickup on Noon Street

by Raymond Chandler

This is one of three collections extracted from The Simple Art of Murder, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1950. The collection contains four stories, all about fifty pages long. Each is set in Los Angeles, centered on a tough-guy protagonist, and told by a third-person narrator who describes actions rather than thoughts. All first appeared in detective magazines. Philip Marlowe, hero of Chandler’s novels, is nowhere to be found. In the title story, originally published as “Noon Street Nemesis” in 1936, undercover narc Pete Anglish accidentally becomes involved in a scheme to extort money from a movie star. “Smart-Aleck Kill” (1934), another tale with a Hollywood angle, tells of P. I. Johnny Dalmas’s attempts to unravel a bogus blackmail plot. In “Guns at Cyrano’s” (1936) Ted Carmady, once a detective, now a hotel owner, gets into trouble when he discovers a pretty dancer unconscious in the hallway. Gambler Johnny De Rose hopes to avoid a vengeful gangster in “Nevada Gas” (1935) but is dragged into deadly violence anyway.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Noir, Short Stories, Pulp, Literature

212 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.

The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."

Reviews

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. Do you think some modern thrillers are difficult to follow? This one's 90 years old but ranks very high on the "What's going on here?" list. Chandler is known for it. 'Pickup ..' is short, 45 pages, but the author has not diminished the misdirection found in his great novels like 'The Big Sleep.' I wouldn't want to listen to this on audio; checking back a few pages is necessary and I admit to doing it! Chandler's writing sparkles and it's well worth a reader trying one's best! Pete Anglich is a cop with LAPD. Only mentioned once, but for those who missed it, this line is a few pages in, "At one minute past seven, Pete Anglich, narcotic squad under-cover man, rolled over .." He's staying at the Surprise Hotel, one notch above an hourly-rated flop house. While taking a shower he hears a noise - the door opened. Five minutes later, Smiler, "the Negro in the purple suit" from whom Anglich took 87 bucks in a crap game the previous evening, is dead of a gun shot. Anglich quietly pays off the desk clerk and goes for a bite at the Bella Donna lunch wagon. That's where we meet a young woman central to this story of blackmail and murder, Miss Token Ware. (Mar2022/Oc2024)

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you had the feeling that if you've seen one means you've seen all...
the good guy: private detective, jobless or penniless, smoker, whiskey drinker, tough, rough, but with a great hart
the girl: anodyne, rather stupid, charmless but somehow attractive, usually a piece of decoration
So, much shooting, much drinking, some casualties, a bitter-sweet end, that's the usual scheme, but you like it...

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corpses show up with regularity in seedy LA hotel rooms.
Most of the action takes place in the dark. And it’s usually raining.
Handguns seem to be everywhere, so shoot-outs are not infrequent.
Characters are described with detail. Corruption abounds.

These are regular features of Chandler’s writing, and shared by all the four stories here.
The title story is a little different though, in that it takes place in the African American area of LA, and its seedier side plays a key role.

Though there is no Marlowe here, these stories are classic Chandler.

[Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pick-up on Noon Street by Raymond Chandler: four little stories loosely tied together Heavy drinkers speaking, heavy working class tough guy slanglish someone getting shot dead by the end of every chapter, soft hearted PI with ex-ray eyes for seeing what is hidden and a toughness and persistence that gets him pass every trap and attempt on his life to find where the corruption really lies a sort of dark Angel that drinks like a fish. Anyway I’m late in discovering the world of Noir crime thrillers Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, and now Raymond Chandler I like what I’ve read of Chandler’s work so far although the slang vernacular gives me a difficult path to decipher what is being said at times. He writes very dramatic, every scene is like out of a theater play detail of setting and mood often dark and threatening with a bottle of Bourbon or Gin nearby, and always a world weary girl too one usually in trouble and needing of rescue it’s a formula but an effective one especially in the hands of a master and Raymond Chandler is certainly a very talented writer this might not be one of his best works I won’t know until I’ve read more of his stories, enjoyed the action and the descriptions, but overall just three and a half stars on this one. Enough to wet my appetite for more of these sort of stories but not good enough for me to sit back and say wow I really liked that story. No it was OK sometimes great but overall three stars.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four noir, hardboiled detective stories (non-Philip Marlowe) written by Chandler for the pulps back in the 1930's and set in Los Angeles. Riveting stories, what you would expect from Chandler.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard-boiled fun. Oh to be as quick on the verbal draw as a Raymond Chandler protagonist.

[adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝,” 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰, 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐲-𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.
“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐰.”

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raymond Chandler books are compulsory reading for anyone who aspires to writing a crime novel. In fact I would go so far in calling his writing a textbook for all crime writers to learn from. That being said, I think he's a pretty lazy writer and I can see why film directors like Hitchcock gave him so much grief over his screenplays.

Pickup On Noon Street consists of four short works and lazy writer that he is, Chandler's stories all inhabit the same landscape in all of them:

1. Seedy hotel room.
2. Cushy, fancy nightclub with dancers and drinks.
3. A sinister car ride which our hero will definitely survive.

When I read the exact same locations in all four stories I wondered if Mr. Chandler used Flash Cards to determine where the action would go in each story. Chandler's still the king but if I want depth there's always Mr. MacDonald.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Los Angeles, 1930s. Everything and everyone's dirty, one way or another, and a private dick just trying to look out for himself gets dragged into some hijinks involving a dame, double-crossing, getting pistol whipped, standoffs that end with one villain shooting another, constant smoking and drinking, dive hotels, fancy nightclubs, etc. You know the drill, and these four stories feel like pastiche even though they're coming straight from the source. It's all as casually racist and sexist as you'd expect a mainstream white author of the 1930s to be, characterization is nonexistent, the plots nonsensical (most particularly when it comes to the lengths the villains go to inexplicably avoid killing the protagonist), but mood is here in spades.

I should've just stuck with Tracer Bullet.

[Freder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chandler cobbled these stories together to make some of his great novels, and they have much more depth in that format.

[Sparrow .]

I thought it never rained in LA, but it constantly does in Raymond Chandler novels. (Actually, these are four novellas, each almost exactly the same size – 50 pages. They were published in six different magazines, strangely, beginning with Black Mask, then Dime Detective, but ending with Atlantic Monthly and The Saturday Review of Literature. These citations summarize Chandler’s entire career, plus the copyright dates, which begin in 1934 and end in 1950. When you write this well in dime magazines, you’re eventually “discovered.”) Chandler saw like a visual artist, not a writer:

Derek Walden opened the door. He was about forty-five, possibly a little more, and had a lot of powdery gray hair and a handsome, dissipated face that was beginning to go pouchy. He had on a monogrammed lounging robe and a glass full of whiskey in his hand. He was a little drunk.

I’d say Chandler was an expressionist, like Edward Munch. (Do you think the name Derek Walden is a sarcastic reference to Thoreau?) His plotlines were so elaborate – and never fully explained – that they are almost non-plots. Faulkner decreed that all writers retell the same three stories, but “Pickup on Noon Street” is the one exception.

[Jerometed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chandler's descriptions pulled me into the book by my nostrils, and his plot twists wrenched my head around till I didn't know where I stood.

I'm reading the big sleep now- and I'm reading it slowly.

[Betta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories for what they were: bon-bons of hard-boiled retro culture that taught me that outlandish lingo is not the province of the young but existed in every age. Enjoyable, formulaic, and I'm on to the next one!

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 short stories. all gritty.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed each tale, with Nevada Gas being my favorite. For prose that jumps off the page and slaps you upside the head, there are few better than Chandler.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a passion for the 1930's,40's and fifties detective-noir novels and when I find one littering up a bookstore it ends up at home being read. This genre is not politically correct since most of its main characters have hormonal issues, but it brings back a time that was not necessarily better, but was much simpler and more interesting. My favorite authors from this period include Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, David Goodis, Mickey Spillane and of course Raymond Chandler. This book is four short stories that are a part of Chandler's best. The gift that Raymond Chandler has is his ability to describe people and places so seductively; like a cigarette hanging, eyelashes that are two long, the exact perfume someone is wearing and the charm of mid century furniture, clothes and style. I often find the setting prepared by this author so interesting that it overwhelms the story itself. Enough, I just enjoyed the book.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as great as i expected. 4 stories. The best of them- Pickup on Noon Street and Neveda Gas have all the expected dark alleys, smoky women, tough talk, clever dicks and sentimentality you'd want and expect, but also had a bit of a by the numbers of feel too. Like had to check off all these elements, had to have this number of twists and then, boom- you're story is done. So- yes, maybe that is what the writing comes down to (???) but it felt a bit artificial. Didn't finish the Guns at Cyrano's as it seemed to want to delight in complication after complication and i didn't like where it was going, so ... dropped it.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My update for this one seems to have disappeared. I bought this from Oxfam as it was a title I hadn't read yet of Raymond Chandler. However, I realized I had read the same three stories under a different title (Smart Alec Kill). Published in the early 30s the stories here definitely didn't have the finesse or polish or style of his later novels. Everything was really simplistic. It felt odd how he kept referring to the main character by his full name. And yeah there were some rather unfortunate racial descriptions in here, but it was still cool that every other character was Black. Especially when you watch a film noir and the entire city is made up only of white people.

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

While these four long short stories aren't quite as good as the Philip Marlowe works that followed later, they are still solid entertaining examples of 1930's pulp fiction and well deserving a read as much for the Los Angeles ambience as the action filled plots. The highlight for me was the nightclub act in "Guns at Cyrano's" when the dancer appears wrapped as a mummy just before the gunplay erupts.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This compilation of 4 medium length stories delivers a good dose of hard-boiled crime noir with little commitment required. The last of the four, Nevada Gas, will probably stick with the reader longer than the other three, which were good, but somewhat forgettable. Solid writing and dialogue in all of them makes the book a worthy read. All take place in and around L.A.

[Mike Downs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reading. The time period is very enjoyably portrayed.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Raymond Chandler. Four longish stories of crime and death in 1930s Los Angeles. No Philip Marlowe, but good reading nonetheless.

[Ram Kaushik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably the first Chandler I've been lukewarm about. I didn't always understand the language used, it seemed a strange post-Depression American, and the plots were weak.

[G P Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great classic, tough guy detective.

[Mg686 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome hard-boiled writing, however some of the jargon has faded so far out of use the plot lines are difficult to understand over 70 years later

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

See review for Smart Aleck Kill

[JulieK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early work, extremely pulpy.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

And other stories. Pickup On Noon Street was alright, and so was Smart-Aleck Kill. Nevada Gas had a neat gimmick, but Guns Ay Cyrano's was my favorite. Any one of them could've been filmed during the noir heyday as The Big Sleep was (that movie made no sense, and had nothing in common with the sort except the title) or Farewell, My Lovely (retitled Murder, My Sweet--one of my favorites.) Unfortunately, Chandler wasn't that prolific, but I'd recommend anything he turned out.

[Ace McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four shorts written for the pulps. Not his best work. Pick Up On Noon Street is a, “what the heck happened at the end”. The other three are enjoyable if not exciting.

Too many characters in these tales have “smart mouths”. Too many failed attempts to be witty by too many characters. In Chandler’s later novels the hero gets not only the best lines but all the lines. It does not work trying to make multiple characters clever. In addition, many lines just fall flat.

[Robby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chandler uses words like no one else. His vernacular is both ridiculous and perfect. Dive in - it will take you an hour to punch through all four stories. His writing is tough, sparse, and beautifully to the point. Everything is described in such great detail but with such minimal language. Enjoy the booze, cigarettes, money, cons, and dicks.