Chandler is considered a founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction. Mention his name, and private detective Philip Marlowe immediately springs to mind. Chandler coined the phrase “down these mean streets,” and Marlowe lives on them. It’s a rough place for a compassionate guy with a more noble sense of purpose than accumulating wealth and power. Marlowe’s compassion makes him vulnerable, and so he plays a tough guy to the world, using wisecracks as his defense against whatever that world throws at him.


“Blackmailers Don’t Shoot” is Chandler’s first mystery story, written when he was 44. All the dames, guns, gangsters, shady dealings, lies, deceptions, crooked cops, fights, tough guy talk, and elements of the mythical quests knight Marlowe feels compelled to pursue are there. But not yet the Marlowe name. That change doesn’t happen until 1939 in “The Big Sleep.” In 1933, he’s Mallory, and at center stage, in a swanky club attempting to blackmail a beautiful movie star over love letters she’d long ago sent to a gangster. She dismisses the attempt, leaves the club, and is kidnapped. Mallory leaves later, only to be strong-armed into the middle of a falling out among gangsters over her kidnapping. He turns the situation to his advantage, leading to the Star’s ultimate rescue, the death of her gangster ex-boyfriend, and the return of her letters. But Mallory has more left to do. Chandler likes it that way.