The Masters of Hard-Boiled Detectives

[Gary622]

Just read my first Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye (1953), which was his last-but-one novel. (Though many commentators on Amazon etc seem to view the last one, Playback, as a poor thing, and it's rarely mentioned in blurbs etc.)

I've read every one of Chandler's novels (all of his full-length novels had Philip Marlowe as the PI), more than once, and while I agree that Long Goodbye could arguably be his best one, and Playback is probably one of the weaker, if not the weakest, I've still enjoyed reading it more than once. The quality of his prose and his characterizations, which were always the best parts about his books, are not much diminished, and there are some really interesting facets of the plot (trying not to give anything away here).

I think one fault in the book, which is kind of subtle, is that Chandler was a year from his own death when it was published, he was really feeling his age, and Marlowe's apparent age seems to go all over the map. He describes himself as "old," but still plays hell with the women and seems to be seen as early middle-aged by the characters he interacts with. Chandler also seemed to get more prone, as he aged, to have characters interject long soliliqies (sp?) - this device worked okay in TLG because he has at least two main characters who are moody, alcoholic chaps who would realistically talk this way, but in Playback it clinks in spots. There's a scene where an old man gives him information about his investigation - and a speech a la "ancient mariner" that would have had the younger Chandler/Marlowe reaching for his hat and cutting him off with a wisecrack.

Finally, whereas Chandler's plots usually had at least a reasonable top-dressing of plausibility (at least in his mature work, and I include all his novels in that category), Playback's plot resolution, i.e. the solution as to what happened, is a bit forced, to say the least.

Nevertheless, I'd read it, but if you haven't read the others start with The Big Sleep and work your way forward from there. Each book stands alone; only passing references are made to previous cases - but I think you'd enjoy the subtle chronological development and maturation of Chandler's writing style.

 

[Oberon]

Been a long time since I looked at what I wrought here!

Keep those recommendations coming, but remember those roots!

Best Chandler line:

"I tried to wipe the floor off my shoulder."

 

[domani]

No one has mentioned James Crumley yet?
I'm thinking of reading his The Wrong Case or The Last Good Kiss.

Crumley's earlier crime novels (The Last Good Kiss, The Wrong Case and Dancing Bear) are excellent, but his books get erratic later in his career. His most recent, The Right Madness, was muddled and messy.

A great author in the noir/hardboiled field that I don't think has been mentioned yet is Charles Willeford. He's probably best known for his Hoke Moseley detective stories from the 1980s (especially Miami Blues), but his range of subjects is very wide, and many of his novels have a great dark humour. Some of his best:

Cockfighter - about a man who takes a vow of silence, to be broken only if he wins the Cockfighter of the Year award. Probably Willeford's best novel.

The Burnt Orange Heresy - a satire about modern art

Pick-up - a story about depression and alcoholism. A kind of forerunner to some of Charles Bukowski's work (Pick-up was written in the 1950s)

The Woman Chaser - a used-car salesman tries to become a movie maker

The Hoke Moseley novels - Miami Blues, New Hope for the Dead, Sideswipe, The Way We Die Now. An excellent cop series.

Given his range, it's a pity that Willeford isn't better-known, as many of his books would appeal to people who don't like crime fiction.

 

[Roger53]

I was writing a reply for this thread the other day, and somehow I pushed the wrong button and off it went into cyberworld somewhere. But anyway, just as I was writing how marvellous a book is the Big Sleep, an ad came on the telly for a book review show, and the announcer was saying the book under discussion that evening was the Big Sleep. An incredible coincidence. I showed my wife the text in amazement. Very exciting. I know, maybe I should get out more..?

But they are all good books. I have tried others, such as Dashiell and Ross MacDonald, but while good I don't think they come up to the standard of Raymond Chandler. As for the word "hardboiled", I think it is a marvellous term. Nothing soft about Phillip Marlowe. Streetwise, for want of a better word, cynical, seen it all. But with a certain amount of smoothness in him as well. Just a little perhaps.

I can't get into Robert Mitchum as Phillip Marlowe. For me Humphrey Bogart is the only one who really plays the part well. A bit like Rebus. Ken Stott might look the part, but I think John Hanna was the real deal.

As for the one liners, there are a couple of sites on the internet devoted to "Chandlerisms". Not too complete, but some goods ones there nevertheless.

 

[The Hitcher]

I just did a search in this forum for Chandler and Hammett and got a blank!





These are the masters! Terrific writers! Chandler wrote a wonderful pastiche of Jane Austen with a short story in "The Simple Art of Murder" that shows just how strong a stylist he could be. If you dare to read mysteries, you must have the foundation! Having seen the movies is not enough by a long shot!

Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man

Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Long Goodbye / The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Simple Art of Murder

When you're done with them, the next crucial author is Ross McDonald, creator of Lew Archer, followed by John D. MacDonald, creator of Travis McGee.

Now let's hear it!

I just got Red Harvest, The Maltese Falcon, and The Thin Man in a single volume from the library. It will be my first time reading Hammett. Started John McDonald recently. I have read the first 4 McGee books so far and am really liking the series.

If you are talking hard-boiled detectives surely you must have Harry Bosch on your list!!! Michael Connelly
and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is no softie either.

James Lee Burke is my favorite mystery writer by far. His books are so beautifully written. Read some of the Dave Robicheax series and you won't have to visit LA to know exactly what it is like.

Just spotted the review by Harriett of John Connolly's book, 'Black Angel', due out later.
I didn't read it, as it's one I'm waiting to buy, however, made me think of adding Charlie 'Bird' Parker to your list, but maybe he would be more of a bloodhoud? He is certainly a very interesting character.

Where JLB is my favorite mystery writer, Charlie Parker is my favorite mystery character (and second favorite character anywhere behind Repairman Jack). I love how much darker these books are than any of the other mysteries I have read. Anyone have any recommendations for more like these?

Being a bif fan of Michael Connelly, would you recommend books by Burke and John Connelly then?

Please see above. I couldn't recommend them anymore.


A few others who haven't been talked about are Andrew Vachhs(?) and Richard Stark (Donald Westlake). Vachhs is an ok writer. I like his ideas but he doesn't do the greatest job putting them on paper. I have only read The Hunter from Stark so far but I absolutely loved it. What a great character Parker is.

 

[saliotthomas]

I 'm just reading the Parker serie in order,hunter,the man with a gathway face,the outfit,the mourner,....the economie of words is a it 's peak,just what need to be said and no more.If james Bond is the kings of spys Parker is king of gansters!!
I also really like Chester Himes but could it be classified as thriller? i'm not so sure.

 

[saliotthomas]

I rediscovered Chester Himes with Real Cool killers and it's mighty good.I'm going to dig this way a bit more..
Any of you read Mister Himes.

 

[kella]

You just resurrected a really old thread.

Haha

 

[GERBAM]

Hard -boiled detectives and the american west

I just did a search in this forum for Chandler and Hammett and got a blank!





These are the masters! Terrific writers! Chandler wrote a wonderful pastiche of Jane Austen with a short story in "The Simple Art of Murder" that shows just how strong a stylist he could be. If you dare to read mysteries, you must have the foundation! Having seen the movies is not enough by a long shot!

Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man

Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Long Goodbye / The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Simple Art of Murder

When you're done with them, the next crucial author is Ross McDonald, creator of Lew Archer, followed by John D. MacDonald, creator of Travis McGee.

Now let's hear it!

I think your advice is sound. Hammett and Chandler created the 'hard boiled detective' and other writers ran with the idea. The history of the HBD is fascinating if anyone is interested in such trivia. For example Hammett and Chandler took their cue from the American western. The 'High Noon' archetype and the 'lonesome cowboy'. What is also interesting is that after Hammett and Chandler started to publish the westerns slowly fell out of favor.

I don't agree with you about Ross McDonald but the other three certainly shine in the pantheon of mystery writers.

ENJOY
GERBAM

 

[Corpus Luteum]

The real founder of the mystery genre was Edgar Allen Poe, followed by Sir Aurthor Conan Doyle.

And then, comes Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross McDonald, John D. MacDonald... and the rest.

Today's greatest master are Robert Crais and Michael Connelly.

 

[Bluenote]

I

James Lee Burke is my favorite mystery writer by far. His books are so beautifully written. Read some of the Dave Robicheax series and you won't have to visit LA to know exactly what it is like.



is.

Or you'd still need to go to Louisiana , but Burke will inevitably make you want to go. His Billy Bob series set in Texas and Montana is equally good , but the Robicheaux novels are something I reread frequently , even though they make me homesick every time I do , makes me miss the smell of Magnolias, Honeysuckle and a good crawfish boil , crave hush puppies and a po'boy and inhale hoping to catch the scent of a gulf storm coming up the Bayou Teche'.

Argueably the heir to the legacy left by Chandler and both MacDonalds.



B.

 

[Flintlock Bill]

Been a long time since I looked at what I wrought here!

Keep those recommendations coming, but remember those roots!

Best Chandler line:

"I tried to wipe the floor off my shoulder."

That IS a great line.

 

[GERBAM]

HARD BOILED DETECTIVE JARGON GLOSSARY
ENJOY
GERBAM
You may need to translate this into normal English just to be able to follow the plot.

Or maybe you want to seem tougher. Why get in a car when you can hop in a boiler? Why tell someone to shut up when you can tell them to close their head? Why threaten to discharge a firearm when you can say, "Dust, pal, or I pump lead!"

This is the language spoken by Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer and the Continental Op. When Cagney, Bogart, Robinson and Raft got in a turf war, this is how they talked.

Now, with the help of this glossary, you too can speak it like a native!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A
Alderman: A man's pot belly.
Ameche: Telephone
Ankle:
(n) Woman
(v) To walk
B
Babe: Woman
Baby: A person, can be said to either a man or a woman
Bangtails: Racehorses
Barber: Talk
Baumes rush: Senator Caleb H. Baumes sponsored a New York law (the Baumes Law) which called for automatic life imprisonment of any criminal convicted more than three times. Some criminals would move to a state that didn't have this law in order to avoid its penalty should they be caught again, and this was known as a "Baumes rush," because of the similarity to "bum's rush."
Be on the nut, To: To be broke
Bean-shooter: Gun
Beezer: Nose
Behind the eight-ball: In a difficult position, in a tight spot
Bent cars: Stolen cars
Berries: Dollars
Big house: Jail
Big one, The: Death
Big sleep, The: Death (coined by Chandler)
Bim: Woman
Bindle
of heroin: Little folded-up piece of paper (with heroin inside)
the bundle (or "brindle") in which a hobo carries all his worldy possessions
Bindle punk, bindle stiff: Chronic wanderers; itinerant misfits, criminals, migratory harvest workers, and lumber jacks. Called so because they carried a "bindle." George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men are bindle stiffs.
Bing: Jailhouse talk for solitary confinement, hence "crazy"
Bird: Man
Bit: Prison sentence
Blip off: To kill
Blow: Leave
Blow one down: Kill someone
Blower: Telephone
Bo: Pal, buster, fellow, as in "Hey, bo"
Boiler: Car
Boob: Dumb guy
Boozehound: Drunkard
Bop: To kill
Box:
A safe
A bar
Box job: A safecracking
Brace (somebody): Grab, shake up
Bracelets: Handcuffs
Break it up: Stop that, quit the nonsense
Breeze: To leave, go; also breeze off: get lost
Broad: Woman
Broderick, The: A thorough beating
Bruno: Tough guy, enforcer
Bucket: Car
Bulge, as in "The kid had the bulge there": The advantage
Bulls: Plainclothes railroad cops; uniformed police; prison guards
Bum's rush, To get the: To be kicked out
Bump: Kill
Bump gums: To talk about nothing worthwhile
Bump off: Kill; also, bump-off: a killing
Buncoing some (people): Defrauding people
Bunk:
"Take a bunk" - leave, disappear
"That's the bunk" - that's false, untrue
"to bunk" - to sleep
Bunny, as in "Don't be a bunny": Don't be stupid
Burn powder: Fire a gun
Bus: Big car
Butter and egg man: The money man, the man with the bankroll, a yokel who comes to town to blow a big wad in nightclubs (see reference)
Button: Face, nose, end of jaw
Button man: Professional killer
Buttons: Police
Butts: Cigarettes
Buy a drink: To pour a drink
Buzz, as in "I'm in the dump an hour and the house copper gives me the buzz": Looks me up, comes to my door
Buzzer: Policeman's badge
C
C: $100, a pair of Cs = $200
Cabbage: Money
Caboose: Jail (from "calaboose," which derives from calabozo, the Spanish word for "jail")
Call copper: Inform the police
Can:
Jail
Car
Can house: Bordello
Can-opener: Safecracker who opens cheap safes
Canary: Woman singer
Case dough: "Nest egg ... the theoretically untouchable reserve for emergencies" (Speaking)
Cat: Man
Century: $100
Cheaters: Sunglasses
Cheese it: Put things away, hide
Chew: Eat
Chicago lightning: gunfire
Chicago overcoat: Coffin
Chick: Woman
Chilled off: Killed
Chin: Conversation; chinning: talking
Chin music: Punch on the jaw
Chinese angle, as in "You're not trying to find a Chinese angle on it, are you?": A strange or unusual twist or aspect to something
Chinese squeeze: Grafting by skimming profits off the top
Chippy: Woman of easy virtue
Chisel: To swindle or cheat
Chiv, chive: Knife, "a stabbing or cutting weapon" (Speaking)
Chopper squad: Men with machine guns
Clammed: Close-mouthed (clammed up)
Clean sneak: An escape with no clues left behind
Clip joint: In some cases, a night-club where the prices are high and the patrons are fleeced (Partridge's), but in Pick-Up a casino where the tables are fixed
Clipped: Shot
Close your head: Shut up
Clout: Shoplifter
Clubhouse: Police station
Coffee-and-doughnut, as in "These coffee-and-doughnut guns are ...": Could come from "coffee and cakes," which refers to something cheap or of little value.
Con: Confidence game, swindle
Conk: Head
Cool: To knock out
Cooler: Jail
Cop
Detective, even a private one
To win, as in a bet
Copped, To be: Grabbed by the cops
Copper
Policeman
Time off for good behaviour
Corn: Bourbon ("corn liquor")
Crab: Figure out
Crate: Car
Creep joint: ?? Can mean a whorehouse where the girls are pickpockets, but that doesn't fit in Pick-Up
Croak: To kill
Croaker: Doctor
Crushed out: Escaped (from jail)
Cush: Money (a cushion, something to fall back on)
Cut down: Killed (esp. shot?)
D
Daisy: None too masculine
Dame: Woman
Dance: To be hanged
Dangle: Leave, get lost
Darb: Something remarkable or superior
Dark meat: Black person
Daylight, as in "let the daylight in" or "fill him with daylight": Put a hole in, by shooting or stabbing
Deck, as in "deck of Luckies": Pack of cigarettes
Derrick: Shoplifter
Diapers, as in "Pin your diapers on": Clothes, get dressed
Dib: Share (of the proceeds)
Dick: Detective (usually qualified with "private" if not a policeman)
Dinge: Black person
Dingus: Thing
Dip: Pickpocket
Dip the bill: Have a drink
Dish: Pretty woman
Dive: A low-down, cheap sort of place
Dizzy with a dame, To be: To be deeply iin love with a woman
Do the dance: To be hanged
Dogs: Feet
Doll, dolly: Woman
Dope
Drugs, of any sort
Information
As a verb, as in "I had him doped as" - to have figured for
Dope fiend: Drug addict
Dope peddler: Drug dealer
Dormy: Dormant, quiet, as in "Why didn't you lie dormy in the place you climbed to?"
Dough: Money
Drift: Go, leave
Drill: Shoot
Drink out of the same bottle, as in "We used to drink out of the same bottle": We were close friends
Drop a dime: Make a phone call, sometimes meaning to the police to inform on someone
Droppers: Hired killers
Drum: Speakeasy
Dry-gulch: Knock out, hit on head after ambushing
Ducat
Ticket
For hobos, a union card or card asking for alms
Duck soup: Easy, a piece of cake
Dummerer: Somebody who pretends to be (deaf and?) dumb in order to appear a more deserving beggar
Dump: Roadhouse, club; or, more generally, any place
Dust
Nothing, as in "Tinhorns are dust to me"
Leave, depart, as in "Let's dust"
A look, as in "Let's give it the dust"
Dust out: Leave, depart
Dutch
As in "in dutch" - trouble
As in "A girl pulled the Dutch act" - committed suicide
As in "They don't make me happy neither. I get a bump once'n a while. Mostly a Dutch." - ?? relates to the police (Art)
E
Eel juice: liquor
Egg: Man
Eggs in the coffee: Easy, a piece of cake, okay, all right
Elbow:
Policeman
A collar or an arrest. Someone being arrested will "have their elbows checked."
Electric cure: Electrocution
Elephant ears: Police
F
Fade: Go away, get lost
Fakeloo artist: Con man
Fin: $5 bill
Finder: Finger man
Finger, Put the finger on: Identify
Flat
Broke
As in "That's flat" - that's for sure, undoubtedly
Flattie: Flatfoot, cop
Flimflam(m): Swindle
Flippers: Hands
Flivver: A Ford automobile
Flogger: Overcoat
Flop:
Go to bed
As in "The racket's flopped" - fallen through, not worked out
Flophouse: "A cheap transient hotel where a lot of men sleep in large rooms" (Speaking)
Fog: To shoot
Frail: Woman
Frau: Wife
Fry: To be electrocuted
From nothing, as in "I know from nothing": I don't know anything
G
Gams: Legs (especially a woman's)
Gashouse, as in "getting gashouse": Rough
Gasper: Cigarette
Gat: Gun
Gate, as in "Give her the gate": The door, as in leave
Gaycat: "A young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality" (Speaking)
Gee: Man
Geetus: Money
Getaway sticks: Legs (especially a woman's)
Giggle juice: Liquor
Gin mill: Bar
Gink: Man
Girlie: Woman
Give a/the third: Interrogate (third degree)
Glad rags: Fancy clothes
Glom
To steal
To see, to take a look
Glaum: Steal
Go climb up your thumb: Go away, get lost
Go over the edge with the rams: To get far too drunk
Go to read and write: Rhyming slang for take flight
Gonif: Thief (Yiddish)
Goofy: Crazy
Goog: Black eye
Goon: Thug
Goose: Man
Gooseberry lay: Stealing clothes from a clothesline (see reference)
Gowed-up: On dope, high
Grab (a little) air: Put your hands up
Graft:
Con jobs
Cut of the take
Grand: $1000
Greasers:
Mexicans or Italians.
A hoodlum, thief or punk.
Grift:
As in "What's the grift?": What are you trying to pull?
Confidence game, swindle
Grifter: Con man
Grilled: Questioned
Gum:
As in "Don't ... gum every play I make": Gum up, interfere with
Opium
Gum-shoe: Detective; also gumshoeing = detective work
Gun for: Look for, be after
Guns:
Pickpockets
Hoodlums
Gunsel:
Gunman (Hammett is responsible for this use; see note)
Catamite.
"1. (p) A male oral sodomist, or passive pederast. 2. A brat. 3. (By extension) An informer; a weasel; an unscrupulous person." (Underworld)
Note Yiddish "ganzl" = gosling
H
Hack: Taxi
Half, A:50 cents
Hammer and saws: Police (rhyming slang for laws)
Hard: Tough
Harlem sunset: Some sort fatal injury caused by knife (Farewell, 14)
Hash house: A cheap restaurant
Hatchetmen: Killers, gunmen
Have the bees: To be rich
Have the curse on someone: Wanting to see someone killed
Head doctors: Psychiatrists
Heap: Car
Heat: A gun, also heater
Heeled: Carrying a gun
High pillow: Person at the top, in charge
Highbinders
Corrupt politician or functionary
Professional killer operating in the Chinese quarter of a city
Hinky: Suspicious
Hitting the pipe: Smoking opium
Hitting on all eight: In good shape, going well (refers to eight cylinders in an engine)
Hock shop: Pawnshop
Hogs: Engines
Hombre: Man, fellow
Hooch: Liquor
Hood: Criminal
Hooker, as in "a stiff hooker of whiskey": A drink of strong liquor
Hoosegow: Jail
Hop:
Drugs, mostly morphine or derivatives like heroin
Bell-hop
Hop-head: Drug addict, esp. heroin
Horn: Telephone
Hot: Stolen
House dick: House/hotel detective
House peeper: House/hotel detective
Hype: Shortchange artist
I
Ice : Diamonds
In stir: In jail
Ing-bing, as in to throw an: A fit
Iron: A car
J
Jack: Money
Jake, Jakeloo: Okay
Jam: Trouble, as in "in a jam"
Jane: A woman
Jasper: A man (perhaps a hick)
Java: Coffee
Jaw: Talk
Jerking a nod: Nodding
Jingle-brained: Addled
Jobbie: Man
Joe: Coffee, as in "a cup of joe"
Johns: Police
Johnson brother: Criminal
Joint: Place, as in "my joint"
Jorum of skee: Shot of liquor
Joss house: Temple or house of worship for a Chinese religion
Juice: Interest on a loanshark's loan
Jug: Jail
Jujus: Marijuana cigarettes
Jump, The: A hanging
Junkie: Drug addict
K
Kale: Money
Keister, keyster:
Suitcase
Safe, strongbox
Buttocks
Kick, as in "I got no kick": I have nothing to complain about
Kick off: Die
Kicking the gong around: Taking opium
Kiss: To punch
Kisser: Mouth
Kitten: Woman
Knock off: Kill
Knockover: Heist, theft
L
Lammed off: Ran away, escaped
Large: $1,000; twenty large would be $20,000
Law, the: The police
Lay
Job, as in Marlowe saying he's on "a confidential lay;" or more generally, what someone does, as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay"
As in "I gave him the lay" - I told him where things stood (as in lay of the of land)
Lead poisoning: To be shot
Lettuce: Folding money
Lid: Hat
Lip: (Criminal) lawyer
Lit, To be: To be drunk
Loogan: Marlowe defines this as "a guy with a gun"
Looker: Pretty woman
Look-out: Outside man
Lousy with: To have lots of
Lug
Bullet
Ear
Man ("You big lug!")
Lunger: Someone with tuberculosis
M
Made: Recognized
Map: Face
Marbles: Pearls
Mark: Sucker, victim of swindle or fixed game
Mazuma: Money
Meat, as in "He's your meat": He's the subject of interest, there's your man
Meat wagon: Ambulance
Mesca: Marijuana
Mickey Finn
(n) A drink drugged with knock-out drops
(v) Take a Mickey Finn: Take off, leave
Mill: Typewriter
Mitt: Hand
Mob: Gang (not necessarily Mafia)
Moll: Girlfriend
Monicker: Name
Mouthpiece: Lawyer
Mud-pipe: Opium pipe
Mug: Face
Muggles: Marijuana
Mugs: Men (esp. dumb ones)
Mush: Face
N
Nailed: Caught by the police
Nance: An effeminate man
Nevada gas: Cyanide
Newshawk: Reporter
Newsie: Newspaper vendor
Nibble one: To have a drink
Nicked: Stole
Nippers: Handcuffs
Nix on (something): No to (something)
Noodle: Head
Nose-candy: Heroin, in some cases
Number: A person, can be either a man or a woman
O
Off the track, as in "He was too far off the track. Strictly section eight": Said about a man who becomes insanely violent
Op: Detective (esp. private), from "operative"
Orphan paper: Bad cheques
Out on the roof, To be: To drink a lot, to be drunk
Oyster fruit: Pearls
P
Pack: To carry, esp. a gun
Palooka: Man, probably a little stupid
Pan: Face
Paste: Punch
Patsy: Person who is set up; fool, chump
Paw: Hand
Peaching: Informing
Pearl diver: dish-washer
Peeper: Detective
Pen: Penitentiary, jail
Peterman: Safecracker who uses nitroglycerin
Pigeon: Stool-pigeon
Pill
Bullet
Cigarette
Pinch: An arrest, capture
Pins: Legs (especially a woman's)
Pipe: See or notice
Pipe that: Get that, listen to that
Pipes: Throat
Pistol pockets: ?? heels?
Pitching woo: Making love (Turner)
Plant
(n) Someone on the scene but in hiding
(v) Bury
Plug: Shoot
Plugs: People
Poke
Bankroll, stake
Punch (as in "take a poke at")
Pooped: Killed
Pop: Kill
Pro skirt: Prostitute
Puffing: Mugging
Pug: Pugilist, boxer
Pump: Heart
Pump metal: Shoot bullets
Punk
Hood, thug
"A jailhouse sissy who is on the receiving end." (Also as a verb, as in "to get punked.")
Puss: Face
Put down: Drink
Put the screws on: Question, get tough with
Q
Queer
(n) Counterfeit
(n) Sexually abnormal
(v) To ruin something or put it wrong ("queer this racket")
R
Rags: Clothes
Ranked: Observed, watched, given the once-over
Rap
Criminal charge
Information, as in "He gave us the rap"
Hit
Rappers: Fakes, set-ups
Rat: Inform
Rate: To be good, to count for something
Rats and mice: Dice, i.e. craps
Rattler: Train
Red-light: To eject from a car or train
Redhot: Some sort of criminal
Reefers: Marijuana cigarettes
Rhino: Money
Ribbed up, as in "I got a Chink ribbed up to get the dope": Set up, arranged for? "I have arranged for a Chinese person to get the information"? (Knockover, 203)
Right: Adjective indicating quality
Right gee, Right guy: A good fellow
Ringers: Fakes
Rod: Gun
Roscoe: Gun
Roundheels
A fighter with a glass jaw
A woman of easy virtue
Rub-out: A killing
Rube: Bumpkin, easy mark
Rumble, the: The news
Run-out, To take the : Leave, escape
S
Sap
A dumb guy
A blackjack
Sap poison: Getting hit with a sap
Savvy?: Get me? Understand?
Sawbuck: $10 bill (a double sawbuck is a $20 bill)
Scatter, as in "And don't bother to call your house peeper and send him up to the scatter"
Saloon or speakeasy.
A hideout, a room or lodging
Schnozzle: Nose
Scram out: Leave
Scratch: Money
Scratcher: Forger
Screw
Leave, as in "Let's screw before anybody pops in"
Prison guard
Send over: Send to jail
Shamus: (Private) detective
Sharper: A swindler or sneaky person
Shells: Bullets
Shine
Black person
Moonshine, bootleg liquor
Shine Indian: ?? (Knockover, 89)
Shiv: Knife
Shylock: Loanshark
Shyster: Lawyer
Silk, as in "all silk so far": All okay so far
Sing: Confess, admit secrets
Sister: Woman
Skate around, as in "She skates around plenty": To be of easy virtue
Skid rogue: A bum who can't be trusted
Skipout: Leave a hotel without paying, or a person who does so
Skirt: Woman
Slant, Get a: Take a look
Sleuth: Detective
Slug
As a noun, bullet
As a verb, to knock unconscious
Smell from the barrel, Have a: Have a drink
Smoke: A black person
Smoked: Drunk
Snap a cap: Shout
Snatch: Kidnap
Sneak
Leave, get lost, as in "If you're not a waiter, sneak"
Type of burglary, as in as in "The hotel-sneak used to be my lay"
Sneeze: Take
Snitch: An informer, or, as a verb, to inform
Snooper: Detective
Snort (as in of gin): A drink
Snow-bird: (Cocaine) addict
Snowed: To be on drugs (heroin? cocaine?); also "snowed up"
Soak: To pawn
Sock: Punch
Soup: Nitroglycerine
Soup job: To crack a safe using nitroglycerine
Spill: Talk, inform; spill it = tell me
Spinach: Money
Spitting: Talking
Spondulix: Money
Square: Honest; on the square: telling the truth
Squirt metal: Shoot bullets
Step off: To be hanged
Sticks of tea: Marijuana cigarettes
Stiff: A corpse
Sting: Culmination of a con game
Stool-pigeon: Informer
Stoolie: Stool-pigeon
Stringin': As in along, feeding someone a story
Sucker: Someone ripe for a grifter's scam
Sugar: Money
Swift, To have plenty of: To be fast (on the draw)
Swing: Hang
T
Tail: Shadow, follow
Take a powder: Leave
Take it on the heel and toe: Leave
Take on: Eat
Take the air: Leave
Take the bounce: To get kicked out (here, of a hotel)
Take the fall for: Accept punishment for
Tea: Marijuana
That's the crop: That's all of it
Three-spot: Three-year term in jail
Throw a joe: Pass out ?? (Key, 86)
Throw lead: Shoot bullets
Ticket: P.I. license
Tiger milk: Some sort of liquor
Tighten the screws: Put pressure on somebody
Tin: Badge
Tip a few: To have a few drinks
Tip your mitt: Show your hand, reveal something
Tomato: Pretty woman
Tooting the wrong ringer: Asking the wrong person
Torcher: Torch singer
Torpedoes: Gunmen
Trap: Mouth
Trigger man: Man whose job is to use a gun
Trip for biscuits, as in "You get there fast and you get there alone - or you got a trip for biscuits": Make the trip for no purpose, achieve no results
Trouble boys: Gangsters
Turn up: To turn in (to the police)
Twist: Woman
Two bits: $25, or 25 cents.
U
Under glass: In jail
Up-and-down, as in "to give something the up-and-down": A look
Uppers, as in "I've been shatting on my uppers for a couple of months now" or "I'm down on my uppers": To be broke
V
Vag, as in vag charge, vag law: Vagrancy
Vig, Vigorish
Excessive interest on a loanshark's loan
Advantage in odds created by a bookie or gambler to increase profit
W
Weak sister: A push-over
Wear iron: Carry a gun
Wheats, as in "a stack of wheats": Pancakes
White
Good, okay, as in "white dick"
Gin ("a gallon of white")
Wikiup: Home
Wire, as in "What's the wire on them?": News, "What information do you have about them?"
Wise, To be To be knowledgeable of; put us wise: tell us
Wise head: A smart person
Wooden kimono: A coffin
Worker, as in "She sizes up as a worker": A woman who takes a guy for his money
Wrong gee: Not a good fellow
Wrong number: Not a good fellow
Y
Yap: Mouth
Yard: $100
Yegg: Safecracker who can only open cheap and easy safes
Z
Zotzed: Killed
Bibliography
Key: Full Title (year of first publication) by Author (Publisher and year of publication for the copy I used)

(ss = short stories collected years after first publication)

 

[Flintlock Bill]

Mighty

 

[Kinger]

Just read my first Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-bye (1953), which was his last-but-one novel. (Though many commentators on Amazon etc seem to view the last one, Playback, as a poor thing, and it's rarely mentioned in blurbs etc.) Anyway. The Long Good-bye. Ooooh. I thought it was one of the most relentlessly terrific books I've read all year: perhaps number one. Forget all the stuff about Marlowe being a 'wisecracking' private eye (and what does 'hardboiled' mean anyway, when it's not referring to eggs?); he's handy with a one-liner all right, but the overwhelming sensation I got when reading his narrative was of permanently reeling under beautifully delivered blows of bitter truth. That, of course, is the kind of thing that cheers me up immensely, and I can't remember the last book I read that had me sitting there grinning like an idiot for so long from the sheer pleasure of the prose.



The brevity of Marlowe's observations (is that the 'hardboiled' bit?) means that Chandler drives an extraordinary density into each paragraph and page: as a result the book (448 pages in my edition, about 50% longer than the other Marlowe novels) feels long and slow but never drawn-out or boring. The milieu is wonderful too: the idle rich of California, whose habits and behaviour prove that money and social standing just make you more miserable in the end. At one point, in three successive chapters, Marlowe meets three different doctors: each one is perfectly portrayed, a fully-rounded character, idiosyncratic but not pitifully eccentric as some lazier, looser writers would have them, so that you really don't know which one is going to feature more prominently, and which two are never going to be mentioned again. This even-handedness and equal attention to detail is present throughout and illuminates the whole thing from within. It's a common overstatement to say of a book one has admired that 'Not a sentence is wasted,' but I really felt this was (almost) literally true with Chandler. Everything that's there needs to be there.

So I picked up a couple more Chandlers, The Lady in the Lake and Farewell, My Lovely, with a combination of jittery excitement and dread at the thought of there being a limited number of these little packages of joy still to read. Mere hardboiled detective stories? Just crime fiction? This is literature - art - pure and simple (though rarely pure, and never simple).

I could not agree with Shade more. Just finished TLG and it is awesome. I have now read all of the Marlowe novels and am sad there are no more to read. What a treat to get this insiders look at L.A. through Marlowe's eyes. The characters, plot, locations it's all gravy folks. If you haven't read Chandlers work do it now!

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

I am surprised no one mentioned Lawrence Block. I think the Matt Scudder novels are the only ones in the class of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but I am also biased somewhat as they are set in New York.

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

Dashiell Hammett was a detective himself for Pinkerton's, so it is no wonder he wrote somewhat realistic stories. There is a semi-autobiographical novel called Hammett by Joe Gores which I enjoyed very much. As former PI myself, I am somewhat critical of many of these private eyes. Spenser especially. He would lose his license every 15 minutes in reality. There are some fictional PIs though that are pretty realistic. Nameless Detective novels by Bill Pronzini and the DKA novels by Joe Gores are two of the best, I thought. However, people keep reminding me these stories are for entertainment, so I should be less critical and just read them for that reason. There are however many realistic police detective novels, many written by ex-policemen.