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The Long Goodbye,
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Dierregi
Is not a "series" strictly speaking. Each book is an independent story.
Alan0633
There is no need...Their only thing in common is about the character
Sean O
No. Most mid-century mystery novels do not depend on any sort of novel-to-novel continuity.
Aki Umemoto
To really appreciate Marlowe, I say yes! The first 3 are basically standalone since there are no tone or story connections, but when you get to "Lady in the Lake", his tone changes. it's written during WWII which he despised and it's more melancholy than previous novels and we feel sorry for the murderer. Next in "The Little Sister", Chandler just had a horrible time in Hollywood and it showed with his treatment toward the movie industry. Also, by the way, I feel he has his best similes and metaphors in this one, Next, his finest book "The Long Goodbye", he's not on a case and the story focuses on friendship, it slowly gets involved with murder and a missing writer, but you don't see the connection until later. It's his longest, most personal novel and his best. Unfortunately, his last novel "Playback" isn't up to par with his previous books but there is a continuing character from "The Long Goodbye". In essence, as someone said previously, this is not a series but separate episodes, but to appreciate Chandler, they should be read in order.
Greg
Lindsey, I had to read all seven of Chandler's novels and then read "Annotated Big Sleep" to get on board the fan-train, the massive one that this author has. I say read them all, then "Annotated Big Sleep", then start again. I had to read Hammett's "Red Harvest" and "Dain Curse" twice to truly get those 2.
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