I just started reading "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler (known most famously for his witty one liners) and could not resist leaving a small note about the book. This book published in 1939, is believed to be the starting point of the detective/crime pulp fiction novel. It is hard to believe that he brought in everything from blackmailing, gambling to pornography in a book - way back in 1939.

In Ian Rankin's words - The Big Sleep is a story of sex, drugs, blackmail and high society narrated by a cynical tough guy Philip Marlowe. As such, it provides the template for much of the urban crime fiction which came after, as well as most Hollywood thrillers. What sets it apart from the crowd, however, is the quality of mind which conceived it. Chandler's pulp credentials show in the twisting of the plot, yet it reads with the simple inevitability of classic tragedy.

For now, I am going to leave you with a fragment from the book - this is in the first page, when detective Philip Marlowe meets the seductive daughter of a millionaire.

"You're awfully tall," she said. Then she giggled with secret merriment. Then she turned her body slowly and lithely, without lifting her feet. She tilted herself towards me on her toes. She fell straight back into my arms. I had to catch her or let her crack her head on the tessellated floor. I caught her under her arms, and she went rubber-legged on me instantly. I had to hold her close to hold her up. When her head was against my chest she screwed it around and giggled at me. 


"You're cute," she giggled. "I'm cute too."