The Big Sleep

The definitive hard-boiled detective novel that established Philip Marlowe as the archetypal private investigator and set the standard for American crime fiction.

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by the wealthy General Sternwood to handle a blackmail case involving his wild younger daughter Carmen. But what seems like a simple matter of paying off a blackmailer quickly spirals into a complex web of murder, pornography, and corruption that reaches into the highest levels of Los Angeles society.

Chandler's Los Angeles is a city of shadows and moral ambiguity, where the wealthy are just as corrupt as the criminals, and justice is a rare commodity. The city itself becomes a character in Marlowe's story—a sprawling metropolis of sun-drenched beaches and dark alleys, glamorous Hollywood parties and seedy gambling dens, where the American Dream has curdled into something ugly and desperate.

Marlowe navigates this world with a combination of cynical wisdom and stubborn idealism. He's tough enough to survive the violence that surrounds him, but decent enough to care about justice even when no one else does. Chandler's famous similes and metaphors capture both the beauty and corruption of his setting.

The plot of The Big Sleep is famously complex—so much so that even Chandler himself reportedly couldn't remember who killed one of the victims. But the labyrinthine story serves Chandler's real purpose: creating a portrait of a society where traditional moral certainties have collapsed, where the line between criminal and citizen has blurred beyond recognition.

The Big Sleep established the template for countless detective novels and films. Its influence on crime fiction cannot be overstated—this is where the modern detective story truly begins.