The book started life as an original screenplay written for Universal some 10 years earlier. In 1954 Cissy, aged 84 died of fibrosis of the lungs-A tragic personal milestone that marked a dramatic decline in Chandler’s creative prowess.Ĭhandler was 70 when Playback, a story of murder, blackmail and revenge was published in 1958. He wrote it whilst his wife Cissy was terminally ill. Chandler considered The Long Goodbye, his best book. The genesis for Playback & Poodle Springs starts with Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye, for it is here Marlowe meets feisty sexpot Linda Loring, daughter of irascible moneybags Harlan Potter. In 1946 the same year that Humphrey Bogart starred as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep, Chandler moved away from Los Angeles to La Jolla, California, It is there that he wrote his final works. By 1943, Chandler began working for Paramount, consorting over the next years, with both Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock. His first novel The Big Sleep was published in 1939.

But given a little historical context both books make fascinating reading.Ĭhandler’s first professional work, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot”, was published in Black Mask magazine in 1933 he was 45. ‘Disappointing’ is a word commonly used when these books are reviewed. CRIMEZINE HANGS OUT WITH HANDSOME JOHNNY ROSSELLI.The big six books that made Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer Onion Field Killer dead, as memorial to Murdered cop Ian Campbell revealed in Los Angeles.Date Night Dreams Do come true, courtesy of Los Angeles Police Department Gang Unit.Crimezine short story exclusive: The Last Supper by RJ Ellory.

Playback by raymond chandler