The Big Sleep (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

by Raymond Chandler

Contributed by NobleBibliophile506

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References To Other Books

Direct References

Famous First Editions

I drove down to the Hollywood public library and did a little superficial research in a stuffy volume called Famous First Editions. Half an hour of it made me need my lunch.

Ben Hur 1860

“Would you happen to have a Ben Hur 1860?” She didn’t say: “Huh?” but she wanted to. She smiled bleakly. “A first edition?” “Third,” I said. “The one with the erratum on page 116.”

Chevalier Audubon 1840

“How about a Chevalier Audubon 1840—the full set, of course?” “Er—not at the moment,” she purred harshly.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

The central walk was lined with Italian cypresses trimmed short and chunky, something the shape of the oil jars in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Ben Hur, 1860, Third Edition

Would you have a Ben Hur, 1860, Third Edition, the one with the duplicated line on page 116?

blue leather book

There was nothing in it but a blue leather book with an index and a lot of writing in code, in the same slanting printing that had written to General Sternwood.

The smut book racket

“Geiger was in what racket?” “The smut book racket.”

blue notebook with the code list of names and addresses

I emptied my pockets and put the catch on his desk: the three notes and Geiger’s card to General Sternwood, Carmen’s photos, and the blue notebook with the code list of names and addresses.

book from Geiger’s store

I got up and went back out of the house to my car and got the book from Geiger’s store out of it. The uniformed police driver was standing besides Ohls’ car. The boy was inside it, leaning back sideways in the corner.

Peter Pan

“I bet you can. You came through the keyhole, just like Peter Pan.”

Sherlock Holmes

I’m not Sherlock Holmes or Philo Vance. I don’t expect to go over ground the police have covered and pick up a broken pen point and build a case from it.

Philo Vance

I’m not Sherlock Holmes or Philo Vance. I don’t expect to go over ground the police have covered and pick up a broken pen point and build a case from it.

Farewell, My Lovely

AVAILABLE AS VINTAGE eBOOKS Farewell, My Lovely The High Window

The High Window

eBOOKS Farewell, My Lovely The High Window The Lady in the Lake

The Lady in the Lake

The High Window The Lady in the Lake The Little Sister

The Little Sister

Lady in the Lake The Little Sister The Simple Art of Murder

The Simple Art of Murder

The Little Sister The Simple Art of Murder Trouble Is My Business

Trouble Is My Business

The Simple Art of Murder Trouble Is My Business The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye

Trouble Is My Business The Long Goodbye Playback

Playback

The Long Goodbye Playback

Indirect References

a book

I said: “Just business acquaintances. We dropped by for a book.”

Referenced By

Direct References

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians

I’m always on the lookout for collectible first editions or signed copies, especially any book by early pioneers of the genre, guys like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, who wrote hard-boiled detective classics like The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon.

Places Referenced

California, United States
"fading out to the hard pale wild lilac of the California hills"
New York, New York
"A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE, INC. NEW YORK"
3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood, California
"It was addressed to General Guy Sternwood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood, California."
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
"I used to like mine with champagne. The champagne as cold as Valley Forge and about a third of a glass of brandy beneath it."
Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"He was a big curly-headed Irishman from Clonmel, with sad eyes and a smile as wide as Wilshire Boulevard."
Clonmel, Ireland
"He was a big curly-headed Irishman from Clonmel, with sad eyes and a smile as wide as Wilshire Boulevard."
Lake Arrowhead, California
"…and the white carpet that went from wall to wall looked like a fresh fall of snow at Lake Arrowhead."
Hollywood Public Library, Los Angeles
"I drove down to the Hollywood public library and did a little superficial research in a stuffy volume called Famous First Editions."
Las Palmas, Los Angeles, California
"A. G. Geiger’s place was a store frontage on the north side of the boulevard near Las Palmas."
Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, California
"At the Highland Avenue traffic signal I pulled up beside him and let him see me."
Laverne Terrace, Los Angeles, California
"He lived on Laverne Terrace, a hillside street off Laurel Canyon Boulevard."
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"He lived on Laverne Terrace, a hillside street off Laurel Canyon Boulevard."
Laurel Canyon Drive, Los Angeles
"I caught sight of him two or three times and then made him turning north into Laurel Canyon Drive."
Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood
"The registration read: Carmen Sternwood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood."
Los Angeles Hall of Justice, Los Angeles, California, United States
"Shaved, dressed and lightly breakfasted I was at the Hall of Justice in less than an hour."
Washington, D.C., United States
"And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he’s got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"He dropped me off in Hollywood near the Chinese Theater and turned back west to Alta Brea Crescent."
Yuma, Arizona
"It seems he run Sternwood’s hotcha daughter, the young one, off to Yuma. The sister ran after them and brought them back and had Owen heaved into the icebox."
Chinese Theater, Los Angeles, California
"He dropped me off in Hollywood near the Chinese Theater and turned back west to Alta Brea Crescent."
Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood
"It was less than ten minutes’ drive to Alta Brea Crescent."
Indiana, United States
"And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he’s got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago."
Franklin Street, Los Angeles, California
"I saw the truck two blocks away when we got to Franklin. We had it in sight to Vine and across Vine and all the way to Western."
Vine Street, Los Angeles, California
"We had it in sight to Vine and across Vine and all the way to Western."
Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California
"We had it in sight to Vine and across Vine and all the way to Western."
Brittany Place, Los Angeles, California
"When we got to Brittany Place the truck had vanished."
Randall Place, Los Angeles, California
"Two blocks up, Brittany Place swung to the east and met Randall Place in a tongue of land on which there was a white apartment house with its front on Randall Place and its basement garage opening on Brittany."
3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood, California
"The address was typewritten to Mrs. Vivian Regan, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood. Delivery had been by messenger service and the office stamp showed 8:35 a.m. as the time out."
Dubuque, Iowa
"This Owen Taylor lived over the garage and I went through his stuff. Parents at Dubuque, Iowa. I wired the Chief of Police there to find out what they want done."
Hall of Justice, Los Angeles, California
"I rode a taxi down to the Hall of Justice to get my car out of the lot."
Los Angeles, California
"But dragging him to the garage, to his own car and driving that off into one of the hundred odd lonely canyons around Los Angeles would be a good way to dispose of him for days or even for weeks."
Yuma, Arizona
"I was going to yell “Yippee!” in a minute and ask her to go to Yuma."
Los Angeles, California
"… flash gambling for flash people. The local law in your pocket and a well‐greased line into L.A. In other words, protection."
Limerick, Ireland
"Leave me out of your plans or you’ll wish your name was Murphy and you lived in Limerick."
Clonmel, Ireland
"“Well, that’s not so far from Clonmel,” I said. “I hear you had a pal came from there.”"
Bali, Indonesia
"“What you see is nothing,” I said. “I’ve got a Bali dancing girl tattooed on my right thigh.”"
Santa Monica, California
"Insurance. I got desk room in Puss Walgreen’s office, Fulwider Building, Western and Santa Monica."
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"He hit the bottom of the canyon and went west on Sunset."
Beverly Hills, California
"Beyond Beverly Hills he skidded off the road and had to stop and I came up and played copper."
7244 Laverne Terrace, Los Angeles, California
"Come over to 7244 Laverne Terrace, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard. I’ll show you where the slugs went."
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"Come over to 7244 Laverne Terrace, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard. I’ll show you where the slugs went."
San Quentin, California
"…that you’re sitting strapped in the chair in the clean little gas chamber up in San Quentin and when you take that breath you’re fighting with all your soul not to take it, it won’t be air you’ll get, it will be cyanide fumes."
Laverne Terrace, Los Angeles, California
"I hoped this would be my last trip to Laverne Terrace."
Fourth and Lafayette Park, Los Angeles, California
"Taggart Wilde, the District Attorney, lived at the corner of Fourth and Lafayette Park, in a white frame house the size of a carbarn, with a red sandstone porte‐cochere built on to one side and a couple of acres of soft rolling lawn in front."
West Adams, Los Angeles, California
"Wilde came of an old Los Angeles family and had probably been born in the house when it was on West Adams or Figueroa or St. James Park."
Figueroa, Los Angeles, California
"Wilde came of an old Los Angeles family and had probably been born in the house when it was on West Adams or Figueroa or St. James Park."
St. James Park, Los Angeles, California
"Wilde came of an old Los Angeles family and had probably been born in the house when it was on West Adams or Figueroa or St. James Park."
Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"ran a dirty book racket in a store on Hollywood Boulevard."
Randall Place, Los Angeles, California
"What did you get on the Randall Place killing?"
Lido pier, Los Angeles, California
"a car being lifted out of the Pacific Ocean off Lido pier this a.m. with a dead guy in it?"
Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"… dispute over the proceeds from a wire service maintained by one Geiger in the back of the bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard."
Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California
"None of them connected Owen Taylor, driver of the Lido Pier Suicide Car, with the Laurel Canyon Exotic Bungalow Slaying."
Dubuque, Iowa
"Owen Taylor was 'chauffeur to a wealthy family.' His family lived in Dubuque, and his body would be shipped there."
Sunset Towers, West Hollywood
"“We found the car four days later in a garage belonging to a ritzy bungalow court place near the Sunset Towers.”"
Casa de Oro, West Hollywood
"“The place is called the Casa de Oro.”"
Florida, United States
"His carpet had a Florida suntan."
Sèvres, France
"There was a bartop radio in the corner and a Sèvres china tea set on a copper tray beside a samovar."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"none of the pseudomodernistic circus of the typical Hollywood night trap"
Havana, Cuba
"I saw an old horseface in Havana once—"
Burma, Southeast Asia
"from Burma teak through half a dozen shades of oak"
City Hall, Los Angeles, California
"“A gray Plymouth sedan tailed me away from the City Hall.”"
3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood, California
"“I’m working for General Guy Sternwood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood.”"
Randall Place, Los Angeles, California
"It was ten minutes to five when I parked near the lobby entrance of the apartment house on Randall Place."
Hall of Justice, Los Angeles, California
"“...swung around in his swivel chair and looked out of his window at the barred top floor of the Hall of Justice half a block away.”"
West Hollywood, California
"I started the car and turned it and drove back across the interurban tracks to the highway and so on into town and up to West Hollywood. She didn’t speak to me. She hardly moved all the way back. I drove through the gates and up the sunken driveway to the porte-cochere of the big house."
Newport, Rhode Island
"Lots of money, you know. A yacht, a place on Long Island, a place at Newport, a place at Bermuda, places dotted here and there all over the world probably—just a good Scotch bottle apart."
Bermuda, British Overseas Territories
"…It was the same one that had tried to trail me around the day before, the same one that I had asked Eddie Mars about. There might be a cop in it, if a cop had that much time on his hands…and wanted to waste it following me around. Or it might be a smoothie in the detective business trying to get a noseful of somebody else’s case in order to chisel a way into it. Or it might be the Bishop of Bermuda disapproving of my night life."
Beverly Hills, California
"A tough racket, brother. Riding the scout car with a gun in your lap and a wad on your hip that would choke a coal chute. Plenty of times we paid off four sets of law before we hit Beverly Hills."
Hueneme Point, California
"…Used to do a little liquor-running down from Hueneme Point. A tough racket, brother. Riding the scout car with a gun in your lap and a wad on your hip that would choke a coal chute."
Fulwider Building, Los Angeles, California
"…Suppose you come over there to the office, Fulwider Building, Western and Santa Monica, four-twenty-eight at the back. You bring the money, I’ll take you to Agnes."
Washington, D.C., United States
"I opened another letter. This one wanted to send me a daily newsletter from Washington, all inside stuff, straight from the cookhouse."
Santa Monica, California
"On Santa Monica the water was level with the sidewalk and a thin film of it washed over the top of the curbing."
Chicago, Illinois
"“A Chicago overcoat is what it would get you, little man.”"
28 Court Street, Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California
"She’s in an apartment house at 28 Court Street, up on Bunker Hill. Apartment 301."
Bullocks Wilshire, Los Angeles, California
"Beside Bullocks Wilshire, the east entrance to the parking lot."
Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"I listened to the swish of tires on Wilshire. I said: “They might have shifted quarters since then but that’s what you have to sell—that’s what you have to sell."
Sunset Place, Los Angeles, California
"The gray Plymouth moved forward, gathered speed, and darted around the corner onto Sunset Place."
Pasadena, California
"I drove north across the river, on into Pasadena, through Pasadena and almost at once I was in orange groves."
Santa Rosa, California
"‘Where from, stranger?’ “Santa Rosa.”"
Los Angeles, California
"Traveling through. On the way to L.A. How far is it?"
Lake Tahoe, California
"‘Come the long way, eh? Tahoe and Lone Pine?’"
Lone Pine, California
"‘Come the long way, eh? Tahoe and Lone Pine?’"
Reno, Nevada
"‘Not Tahoe. Reno and Carson City.’"
Carson City, Nevada
"‘Not Tahoe. Reno and Carson City.’"
Hall of Justice, Los Angeles, California
"Captain Gregory of the Missing Persons Bureau looked heavily out of his office window at the barred upper floor of the Hall of Justice, white and clean after the rain."
City Hall, Los Angeles, California
"I went down out of the City Hall and got my car from the parking lot and drove home to the Hobart Arms."
Los Angeles, California
"I was driving hard along the highway through the rain, with Silver-Wig in the corner of the car, saying nothing, so that by the time we reached Los Angeles we seemed to be utter strangers again."
Folsom, California
"I’d like to see the flashy well-dressed muggs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred hard guys that got knocked over on their first caper and never had a break since."
Lafayette Park, Los Angeles, California
"I was pushing the car along the silent, rain-polished streets to Lafayette Park and up under the porte-cochere of Wilde’s big frame house."
La Brea, Los Angeles, California
"I drove on down the hill through the quiet opulent streets with their faces washed by the rain, bore east to La Brea, then south."
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto."
Long Island, New York, United States
"Lots of money, you know. A yacht, a place on Long Island, a place at Newport, a place at Bermuda, places dotted here and there all over the world probably—just a good Scotch bottle apart."
Pacific Ocean, Earth
"“Don’t bother with bronze or silver handles. And don’t scatter my ashes over the blue Pacific. I like the worms better.”"
Bermuda, British Overseas Territories
"Lots of money, you know. A yacht, a place on Long Island, a place at Newport, a place at Bermuda, places dotted here and there all over the world probably—just a good Scotch bottle apart."
New York, New York
"Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"I drove back into Hollywood."
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
"I sat down again and I felt automatically for a cigarette and then stopped. St. Louis in August had nothing on that place."
Pacific Ocean, Earth
"a car being lifted out of the Pacific Ocean off Lido pier this a.m. with a dead guy in it?"
Pacific Ocean, Earth
"“You’ll never find either of them. The Pacific Ocean is too close.”"
Laverne Terrace, Los Angeles, California
"Halfway up the grade he turned left and took a curving ribbon of wet concrete which was called Laverne Terrace. It was a narrow street with a high bank on one side and a scattering of cabin-like houses built down the slope on the other side, so that their roofs were not very much above road level."