In Raymond Chandler’s 1949 novel The Little Sister Philip Marlowe takes on what seems like a fairly routine missing persons case. Orrin Quest was a young man from Manhattan, Kansas who arrived in LA and then disappeared from sight. His sister hires Marlowe to find him. The trail leads to a couple of corpses, an up-and-coming movie starlet and an out-of-town gangster. From there on the plot, in typical Chandler fashion, becomes more and more devious, culminating in not one twist but a whole series of twists at the end.
If you’re already a Chandler fan you pretty much know what to expect – lots of snappy dialogue (the kind of dialogue that has been copied countless times but no-one does it quite as well as Chandler does it), fascinatingly perverse characters, delightfully seedy settings and an abundance of cynicism.
And mixed with the cynicism you get Marlowe, a genuine hero in an age that has little use for heroes. The Little Sister is classic Chandler. Wonderful stuff.
Good to know! I see vintage copies of this one in used bookstores, never sure how it compares to his other classics. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI just reread it (2nd or 3rd time?) and loved it but the ending was pretty incomprehensible. I know one doesn't care who did it but multiple murderers is always silly.
ReplyDeleteNot as good as the others.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why I like this one so much. Rationally I know there are better Chandler novels but for some irrational reason this one just grabbed me.
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