![]() He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world. 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 a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. Take it away Ray… “But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. Cain, and you were wondering what my book might be like, I hope this gives you an idea of the story I wanted to write. If you haven’t read any Chandler, or Dashiell Hammett or James M. There is no point saying any more about this because Chandler said it best himself, in his essay “The Simple Art of Murder.” A good detective story should be a study of humanity, like any other worthwhile work of art. That’s why he does what he does and why, sometimes, he’s so good at it. Though Chandler himself says that a “love interest almost always weakens a mystery story,” Marlowe is a romantic. The hero is a cynical smart-ass with a dark past and a strong jaw, but there’s usually something missing. There are smiling mobsters and stolen dirty pictures and rich guys who drink too much. They take the fedoras and the trenchcoats and the femme fatales. But often, the derivative works miss the mark. I took some pretty big handfuls of inspiration myself when I was first creating Fetch Phillips. Raymond Chandler’s work has been referenced or ripped-off, countless times, in every medium, to varying degrees of success. I bought it on iTunes, but you can listen to it in other ways depending on where you are in the world. It’s a great way to be introduced to Chandler’s work while getting a good dose of Toby Stephens being brilliant. They are abridged but thoroughly engrossing versions of all the books. Toby Stephens (my dear Captain Flint) played Phillip Marlowe in a series of dramatizations for BBC Radio 4. ![]() Now, if you haven’t read any Chandler, and you’re here because you were a fan of Black Sails, then I have a treat. The voice, the characters, and the infinitely quotable “Chandlerisms.” Farewell My Lovely, The Long Goodbye, Lady in the Lake, I read them all, and I go back often. I ate film noir for a few years, following Bogie’s career in particular. Watching Bogart and Bacall being witty as hell in black and white, kicked off a bit of an obsession. When I was about thirteen, my dad recorded The Big Sleep off the telly, onto VHS, and told me that I might find it interesting.
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