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Philip Marlowe
The Finger Man
Philip Marlowe has just given evidence about a corruption matter at City Hall when an acquaintance hires him to accompany him to a private casino as protection. Are these two matters connected? What else is involved? If you've read Raymond Chandler before, you know the answers to these questions.
Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, "Finger Man." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere.
Librarian's note #2: in an earlier version of the story, Carmady was the lead detective. It first appeared in "Black Mask" in 1934. The story stayed, for the most part, the same.
Librarian's note #1: this entry is for the story, "Finger Man." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere.
Librarian's note #2: in an earlier version of the story, Carmady was the lead detective. It first appeared in "Black Mask" in 1934. The story stayed, for the most part, the same.
122 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
8 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Chandler
448 books5,623 followersRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 4, 2020
Novela corta de poco más de 100 páginas en la que Chandler condensa todo su repertorio: mentiras, corrupción política, violencia, juego ilegal, un juicio.
Para los amantes del género o para los que quieran conocer rápidamente de qué va el mundo Marlowe.
Short novel of just over 100 pages in which Chandler condenses his entire repertoire: lies, political corruption, violence, illegal gambling, a trial.
For lovers of the genre or for those who want to quickly know what the Marlowe world is about.
Para los amantes del género o para los que quieran conocer rápidamente de qué va el mundo Marlowe.
Short novel of just over 100 pages in which Chandler condenses his entire repertoire: lies, political corruption, violence, illegal gambling, a trial.
For lovers of the genre or for those who want to quickly know what the Marlowe world is about.
March 10, 2023
early chandler short story that’s as interesting as his later novels. the plot is clever, the mystery catches your intrigue, and the characters are as colourful as ever, jumping right off the page.
if chandler has a weakness it’s that he rarely puts the reader in context once the story starts twisting and turning. you have to reread passages, because chandler hardly ever has his detective reviewing what he’s learned so far. you have to keep up, which makes the story move hella fast, but also a bit of a challenge to follow. it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise slick little noir.
alright, i’m off to read more chandler.
if chandler has a weakness it’s that he rarely puts the reader in context once the story starts twisting and turning. you have to reread passages, because chandler hardly ever has his detective reviewing what he’s learned so far. you have to keep up, which makes the story move hella fast, but also a bit of a challenge to follow. it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise slick little noir.
alright, i’m off to read more chandler.
December 17, 2022
5 Stars. "The Finger Man" is a 56-page, novelette short story published in a 1950 collection titled "Trouble is My Business." It first appeared in the pulp mystery magazine, "Black Mask," in 1934 with private detective Carmady in the lead role - changed to Phillip Marlowe in the collection. Marlowe has just fingered lobbyist Manny Tinnen at the Grand Jury for the killing of a government official when he is approached by a friend, Lou Harger. In the Marlowe stories it doesn't appear that he has any friends, but these two at least have some history together. Harger used to own a casino; when it failed, a roulette table of his ended up at Las Olindas casino run by Canale. Apparently Harger and a beautiful red-head, Miss Glenn, are going to the casino that evening to take advantage of a few bugs in the wheel which Harger knows about. He needs Marlowe for protection. A body or two later, one begins to wonder if the name of the story actually relates to Frank Dorr, the man who owns Canales's casino, and controls the government corruption schemes which were an aspect of Tinnen's crime. Does Dorr have a finger in every pie? (July 2020)
May 24, 2025
Nothing new under the Californian sun.
Tough guys, gambling, drinking, shooting, many casualties (perhaps too many...) a pretty girl looking for trouble, as she has chosen the wrong entourage.
As usual for Chandler's first stories, some fragments will be found in the following novels, so "The Finger Man" looks familiar, even at first read.
Tough guys, gambling, drinking, shooting, many casualties (perhaps too many...) a pretty girl looking for trouble, as she has chosen the wrong entourage.
As usual for Chandler's first stories, some fragments will be found in the following novels, so "The Finger Man" looks familiar, even at first read.
March 13, 2015
In this short 1946 collection from Avon Books, consisting of three stories and an essay, we have what some editorial wag at Avon labeled on the cover as “A redhead, a roulette wheel, and murder a la Chandler.” Well, what do editorial wags know? It does prove he at least read the first story, “Finger Man,” which is more than did the cover artist for the edition I have, giving us a blonde who is as blonde as a blonde can be. It’s, of course, a minor quibble, for it’s the meat we’re interested in, not the paper the butcher uses to wrap it. An odd metaphor, you might think, but as you read the three stories, you do begin to think they are rather rough cuts, and perhaps not quite prime. But, I admit, that may be a personal bias, since I have always considered Raymond Chandler’s short fiction inferior to his longer works.
In the titular “Finger Man.” We have a private detective who talks like Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, and in later editions is even renamed Marlowe, who provides evidence to the D.A. about a gangster, who then is hired by a shady friend with a system for beating the gangster’s roulette wheel. The impact of this story is created by Chandler’s economy of words, a trait not often found in the pulps, where writers were paid to be verbose, where the more words they wrote the less the Depression hurt. A terse line here, a short description there, and suddenly Chandler creates breathable atmosphere and breathing characters. As you read the story, you get a sense of déjà vu, not surprising, when you understand that elements of the story were later incorporated into “The Big Sleep,” but it’s the best fate this story could have, serviceable though it is.
In “The Smart-Aleck Kill,” published the same year (1934) as the first story, we have a detective named John Dalmas, but if you want to rename Marlowe in your mind, go ahead—it won’t hurt anyone’s image of the great detective and it might make the story more palatable. You won’t really have a silk purse, but the sow’s ear might be less obvious. In this tale of blackmail, blazing guns and booze, in which Dalmas’ client is a glamorous movie star, we have Chandler more influenced by the style of pulp writing, perhaps a bit more desperate to make a sale. There’s nothing really wrong with the story, but I imagine that the readers of Black Mask magazine (where it was first published) thought it no better or worse than other efforts that month and quickly moved on to the next tale.
“The Bronze Door” is an odd duck, and if you read it without a byline, no one will fault you for not knowing it had been written by Raymond Chandler and not Charles Beaumont for a “Twilight Zone” episode. It is a fantasy tale first published in the November 1939 issue of Unknown Magazine. In it, we meet mild-mannered James Sutton-Cornish who returns home one day for afternoon tea after having a few whiskeys at his club. His harridan wife, dismayed by his tipsiness, leaves him, taking her soul-mate with her, Teddy the terrible Pomeranian. In an alcoholic fog, he goes out, climbs into a hansom cab (though they haven’t been around at least twenty years), and at random visits a seedy auction house in storied Soho. There he buys the massive bronze door of the title, but not before the auctioneer steps through and vanishes, or seems to…you may have to read the passage a few times to decide what happens, and even then you may just frown and push on. He has the door installed in his house, and when the shrewish wife returns to pressure him to provide grounds for divorce (couldn’t he at least have the decency to go down to Brighton and have a seaside fling with a theatre wench?), neither she nor vile little Teddy are ever seen again. All the disappearances taking place around Mr Sutton-Cornish soon attract the interest of Scotland Yard, which sends a stolid and bulldogish detective sergeant to look into it. There is nothing at all hard-boiled about this story. Its coziness is enhanced by the dreaminess of Chandler’s style and its London setting, where a police detective can sit down with a suspect and enjoy a few morning whiskeys and a good cigar while questioning him. It contains none of the elements we look for when we read a story by Raymond Chandler, which is probably the best reason to read it.
The last entry in the book is the classic essay “The Simple Art of Murder,” published in the December 1944 issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine. If the other stories in this book are rough cuts, or just odd, then this essay is prime rib. It looks at mystery and detective stories as being the literature of realism. He examines the then-accepted classics of the genre and gives short shrift to them, especially those of English writers like Milne, Christie and Conan Doyle. The English mystery writers are not the best writers in the world, Chandler claims, but they are the best dull writers. Even the great Sherlock Holmes is dismissed as being nothing more than an attitude and a few great lines. His contention that most mystery stories break down when seen through the spectrum of realism paves the way for a paean to contemporary hardboiled detective writers like Dashiell Hammett and himself. Their work, he claims, is authentic, realistically set in a society “in which gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities.” Such a world can be fought in literature only by a modern knight errant who walks the mean streets without himself becoming mean, a man whose honor can remain untarnished, but whose honor must also remain internal, never flaunted in the face of a corrupt society. Even though more than seventy years have elapsed since this essay saw print, it still remains relevant to today’s avatar of the genre. Chandler’s bias toward realism still holds sway, the gangsters still control our world (though they now have apologists and supporters in government and society), and the monstrosities of the nightly newscast are mirrored in the violence of contemporary crime novels. Chandler’s view of the literary hero needed for such a genre also still holds sway among mystery writers, but the nobility of that hero is now mostly seen in contrast to the depravity and destructiveness of the foes he is set against, rather than as an ideal stemming from the traditional mores of society.
The book is not easy to find, but it’s worth the effort if you can, especially if you are a Chandler fan. Even if you can’t, the stories and the essay have been reprinted elsewhere. They give you insight into Chandler the writer, both as man and icon. In “Finger Man,” we get a new appreciation for one of his best novels; in “The Smart-Aleck Kill” we see that even when Chandler was banal, he was better than most writers at their best; in “The Bronze Door” we see an unknown Chandler who probably should have been let out of the literary closet more often; and in “The Simple Art of Murder,” we see Chandler the intellectual, the best analyst of his own art, an advocate for the literature of murder, and a defender of its existence in an apparently ordered society.
In the titular “Finger Man.” We have a private detective who talks like Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, and in later editions is even renamed Marlowe, who provides evidence to the D.A. about a gangster, who then is hired by a shady friend with a system for beating the gangster’s roulette wheel. The impact of this story is created by Chandler’s economy of words, a trait not often found in the pulps, where writers were paid to be verbose, where the more words they wrote the less the Depression hurt. A terse line here, a short description there, and suddenly Chandler creates breathable atmosphere and breathing characters. As you read the story, you get a sense of déjà vu, not surprising, when you understand that elements of the story were later incorporated into “The Big Sleep,” but it’s the best fate this story could have, serviceable though it is.
In “The Smart-Aleck Kill,” published the same year (1934) as the first story, we have a detective named John Dalmas, but if you want to rename Marlowe in your mind, go ahead—it won’t hurt anyone’s image of the great detective and it might make the story more palatable. You won’t really have a silk purse, but the sow’s ear might be less obvious. In this tale of blackmail, blazing guns and booze, in which Dalmas’ client is a glamorous movie star, we have Chandler more influenced by the style of pulp writing, perhaps a bit more desperate to make a sale. There’s nothing really wrong with the story, but I imagine that the readers of Black Mask magazine (where it was first published) thought it no better or worse than other efforts that month and quickly moved on to the next tale.
“The Bronze Door” is an odd duck, and if you read it without a byline, no one will fault you for not knowing it had been written by Raymond Chandler and not Charles Beaumont for a “Twilight Zone” episode. It is a fantasy tale first published in the November 1939 issue of Unknown Magazine. In it, we meet mild-mannered James Sutton-Cornish who returns home one day for afternoon tea after having a few whiskeys at his club. His harridan wife, dismayed by his tipsiness, leaves him, taking her soul-mate with her, Teddy the terrible Pomeranian. In an alcoholic fog, he goes out, climbs into a hansom cab (though they haven’t been around at least twenty years), and at random visits a seedy auction house in storied Soho. There he buys the massive bronze door of the title, but not before the auctioneer steps through and vanishes, or seems to…you may have to read the passage a few times to decide what happens, and even then you may just frown and push on. He has the door installed in his house, and when the shrewish wife returns to pressure him to provide grounds for divorce (couldn’t he at least have the decency to go down to Brighton and have a seaside fling with a theatre wench?), neither she nor vile little Teddy are ever seen again. All the disappearances taking place around Mr Sutton-Cornish soon attract the interest of Scotland Yard, which sends a stolid and bulldogish detective sergeant to look into it. There is nothing at all hard-boiled about this story. Its coziness is enhanced by the dreaminess of Chandler’s style and its London setting, where a police detective can sit down with a suspect and enjoy a few morning whiskeys and a good cigar while questioning him. It contains none of the elements we look for when we read a story by Raymond Chandler, which is probably the best reason to read it.
The last entry in the book is the classic essay “The Simple Art of Murder,” published in the December 1944 issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine. If the other stories in this book are rough cuts, or just odd, then this essay is prime rib. It looks at mystery and detective stories as being the literature of realism. He examines the then-accepted classics of the genre and gives short shrift to them, especially those of English writers like Milne, Christie and Conan Doyle. The English mystery writers are not the best writers in the world, Chandler claims, but they are the best dull writers. Even the great Sherlock Holmes is dismissed as being nothing more than an attitude and a few great lines. His contention that most mystery stories break down when seen through the spectrum of realism paves the way for a paean to contemporary hardboiled detective writers like Dashiell Hammett and himself. Their work, he claims, is authentic, realistically set in a society “in which gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities.” Such a world can be fought in literature only by a modern knight errant who walks the mean streets without himself becoming mean, a man whose honor can remain untarnished, but whose honor must also remain internal, never flaunted in the face of a corrupt society. Even though more than seventy years have elapsed since this essay saw print, it still remains relevant to today’s avatar of the genre. Chandler’s bias toward realism still holds sway, the gangsters still control our world (though they now have apologists and supporters in government and society), and the monstrosities of the nightly newscast are mirrored in the violence of contemporary crime novels. Chandler’s view of the literary hero needed for such a genre also still holds sway among mystery writers, but the nobility of that hero is now mostly seen in contrast to the depravity and destructiveness of the foes he is set against, rather than as an ideal stemming from the traditional mores of society.
The book is not easy to find, but it’s worth the effort if you can, especially if you are a Chandler fan. Even if you can’t, the stories and the essay have been reprinted elsewhere. They give you insight into Chandler the writer, both as man and icon. In “Finger Man,” we get a new appreciation for one of his best novels; in “The Smart-Aleck Kill” we see that even when Chandler was banal, he was better than most writers at their best; in “The Bronze Door” we see an unknown Chandler who probably should have been let out of the literary closet more often; and in “The Simple Art of Murder,” we see Chandler the intellectual, the best analyst of his own art, an advocate for the literature of murder, and a defender of its existence in an apparently ordered society.
June 26, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK/Novella 177 (of 250)
At this point during my readathon, I'd read 50 authors and decided to read a second work by each, where I could find that 2nd work. (Then at book 100 I became hooked on this author, Spillane, Hammett, Woolrich, Thompson, Highsmith and many more: this periods depth and breadth was surprising in many ways, all good. And, by the way, all books here in this countdown are from my 2 local library systems: city and county.)
For a refreshing change, Chandler avoids the over-the-top racism displayed in "The Big Sleep" in this novella. But oddly, this pre-dates that novel (his first) by five years. Why the increased racism later? Why the increased homophobia later? All to be discussed!
HOOK=3 stars. A grand jury has indicted Manny Tinnen for a "kill". That's all we know until we get to a gambling joint in Part Two.
PACE=2: And we never find out much more about anyone or anything: this feels like a short story stretched out for "pay-by-word-count" purposes, common in early pulp fiction.
PLOT=3: After the opening indictment, a gambler (different character) wins 22K by wiring a roulette wheel and someone wants it back. Interesting, and how will this tie in with the earlier indictment?
PEOPLE=3: There is Marlowe (a bit of background), but no one else comes to mind upon closing the story.
PLACE=3: We're in the crime world as we go from courtroom to gambling hall. Will we head back to court?
SUMMARY=This feels like a short story stretched for word count, but does have a few interesting qualities, specifically Chandler's undefinable style, for a 2.8 rating overall.
BOOK/Novella 177 (of 250)
At this point during my readathon, I'd read 50 authors and decided to read a second work by each, where I could find that 2nd work. (Then at book 100 I became hooked on this author, Spillane, Hammett, Woolrich, Thompson, Highsmith and many more: this periods depth and breadth was surprising in many ways, all good. And, by the way, all books here in this countdown are from my 2 local library systems: city and county.)
For a refreshing change, Chandler avoids the over-the-top racism displayed in "The Big Sleep" in this novella. But oddly, this pre-dates that novel (his first) by five years. Why the increased racism later? Why the increased homophobia later? All to be discussed!
HOOK=3 stars. A grand jury has indicted Manny Tinnen for a "kill". That's all we know until we get to a gambling joint in Part Two.
PACE=2: And we never find out much more about anyone or anything: this feels like a short story stretched out for "pay-by-word-count" purposes, common in early pulp fiction.
PLOT=3: After the opening indictment, a gambler (different character) wins 22K by wiring a roulette wheel and someone wants it back. Interesting, and how will this tie in with the earlier indictment?
PEOPLE=3: There is Marlowe (a bit of background), but no one else comes to mind upon closing the story.
PLACE=3: We're in the crime world as we go from courtroom to gambling hall. Will we head back to court?
SUMMARY=This feels like a short story stretched for word count, but does have a few interesting qualities, specifically Chandler's undefinable style, for a 2.8 rating overall.
June 25, 2022
Wouldn't normally review something I read as a joke (and as a read-aloud on a hot date lol), but Cry, the Beloved Country is taking me so long to finish and I need to stay relevant on Good Reads. Honestly a pleasure to step into the original world of noir detective stuff. Couldn't tell you what the title or most of the slang in the story mean, but that's part of the immersive experience, you know? Only four stars because of the 1930s racism.
March 25, 2014
I've read the bilingual Czech/English edition, the original would get 3-4 stars (it's not as good as later Chandler's novels, but still nice). The two stars are because of the translator/editor who both fucked up in a terrible way. The English version has an unusual amount of typos and other errors, including a missing paragraph. Then there is the Czech translation that is as bad as a translation can get - it's not just the choice of language, but sometimes translation does not make sense at all (and because it's bilingual, you can clearly see that the original makes perfect sense).
July 29, 2022
چندلر این داستان بلند را وقتی نوشته بود که هنوز کارآگاه بینظیرش، یعنی فیلیپ مارلو، به دستش خلق نشده بود. با این وجود، او در ویراستهای بعدی نام کارآگاه —یعنی تِد کارمادی— را به فیلیپ مارلو تغییر داد. این اثر ریموند چندلر هم ویژگیهای همیشگی آثارش را دارد: کارآگاهی واقعی که در تواناییهای جسمانی و تحلیلیاش اغراق نشده و با این حال سرسخت و بامعرفت است؛ فساد سیاسی و اجتماعی که پیرامون قصه را گرفته است و البته رگههای مستترِ تمجید از انسانیت و شرافت، در جابهجای روایت پرشتاب قصهای جنایی
November 7, 2022
۱۴۰۱/۸/۱۶
آبان ماه 2:30
مِنی تینن»، یکی از افراد بانفوذ شهرداری لسآنجلس، پس از شهادت «فیلیپ مارلو»، کارآگاه خصوصی، به قتل محکوم شد و از آن پس فیلیپ مارلو، با نفرت و تهدید دوستان و آشنایان منی تینن روبه رو شد....
به همین علت دادستان «فون وِدِر» به او هشدار داد که مراقب خودش باشد.
از سوی دیگر، یکی از دوستان مارلو «لو هارگِر» که در کار شرطبندیهای غیرقانونی است، به او پیشنهاد میکند که در یک شرطبندی غیرقانونی در مسابقه سگها همراه او باشد و از او محافظت کند.
مارلو، برخلاف میلش، به خاطر رفاقت با لو، این پیشنهاد را میپذیرد. در محل شرطبندی دوست مارلو و نامزدش مبلغ زیادی برنده میشوند ولی وقتی مارلو به دنبال آنها از محل باشگاه خارج میشود، افراد ناشناسی به او حمله میکنند و و قتی به هوش میآید، متوجه میشود که اسلحهاش را دزدیدهاند و اثری از لو هارگر و نامزدش (خانم گلن) نیست.
مارلو به جستوجویشان میرود و پی میبرد که آنها برای فرار از دست دزدها، ماشین خود را با یک تاکسی عوض کردهاند و به مکان نامعلومی رفتهاند.
صبح روز بعد، گلن نزد مارلو آمد و گفت که «لو هارگر» به دست دو ناشناس به قتل رسیده است. او پولها را برای نگهداری به مارلو سپرد.
مارلو به آپارتمان لو هارگر رفت اما اثری از جسد نیافت و پس از آن خانم گلن هم ناپدید شد....
آبان ماه 2:30
مِنی تینن»، یکی از افراد بانفوذ شهرداری لسآنجلس، پس از شهادت «فیلیپ مارلو»، کارآگاه خصوصی، به قتل محکوم شد و از آن پس فیلیپ مارلو، با نفرت و تهدید دوستان و آشنایان منی تینن روبه رو شد....
به همین علت دادستان «فون وِدِر» به او هشدار داد که مراقب خودش باشد.
از سوی دیگر، یکی از دوستان مارلو «لو هارگِر» که در کار شرطبندیهای غیرقانونی است، به او پیشنهاد میکند که در یک شرطبندی غیرقانونی در مسابقه سگها همراه او باشد و از او محافظت کند.
مارلو، برخلاف میلش، به خاطر رفاقت با لو، این پیشنهاد را میپذیرد. در محل شرطبندی دوست مارلو و نامزدش مبلغ زیادی برنده میشوند ولی وقتی مارلو به دنبال آنها از محل باشگاه خارج میشود، افراد ناشناسی به او حمله میکنند و و قتی به هوش میآید، متوجه میشود که اسلحهاش را دزدیدهاند و اثری از لو هارگر و نامزدش (خانم گلن) نیست.
مارلو به جستوجویشان میرود و پی میبرد که آنها برای فرار از دست دزدها، ماشین خود را با یک تاکسی عوض کردهاند و به مکان نامعلومی رفتهاند.
صبح روز بعد، گلن نزد مارلو آمد و گفت که «لو هارگر» به دست دو ناشناس به قتل رسیده است. او پولها را برای نگهداری به مارلو سپرد.
مارلو به آپارتمان لو هارگر رفت اما اثری از جسد نیافت و پس از آن خانم گلن هم ناپدید شد....
June 12, 2021
This gave me an idea on what to expect with the rest of the Marlowe books, namely period language and basically what it was like without the war during the time of the second world war.
June 19, 2018
A perfect little tragedy. I recommend reading it with classic jazz on, in winter.
It’s only in the last third that Chandler’s characteristic aesthetic pauses, which are exactly like the silent moments in jazz, begin to punctuate the narrative with a superb silence and spaciousness that allows the full experience - perhaps from the car rental shed onwards, or from the visit to the morgue in the middle of the story, it begins.
Superb, matchless, lovely, and shakespearean prose, in its own way. Such a pleasure to read.
It’s only in the last third that Chandler’s characteristic aesthetic pauses, which are exactly like the silent moments in jazz, begin to punctuate the narrative with a superb silence and spaciousness that allows the full experience - perhaps from the car rental shed onwards, or from the visit to the morgue in the middle of the story, it begins.
Superb, matchless, lovely, and shakespearean prose, in its own way. Such a pleasure to read.
May 17, 2014
A nice edition with a good selection. Nice cover art
June 4, 2015
Sings like a crooked canary.
Cheers.
Cheers.
September 27, 2016
Hardboiled detective novella. Introduction to Philip Marlowe detective from The Big Sleep.
March 22, 2024
The novella covers a political trial and a crack at a casino and all the things that could go wrong. Philip Marlowe ends up being in the thick of it (of course). A quick read.
Translator of the bilingua crimi copy I read: Vlasta Dvořáčková (I still only read the English side...the library has a limited English book selection!)
Translator of the bilingua crimi copy I read: Vlasta Dvořáčková (I still only read the English side...the library has a limited English book selection!)
March 27, 2022
Classic Chandler.
October 4, 2020
This novella is contained in 13 Short Detective Novels, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg.
Major characters:
Philip Marlowe, private eye
Lou Harger, his dapper friend
Miss Glenn, Lou's tall, red-headed gal
-- Canales, manager of a casino
Frank Dorr, the 'big guy' casino owner
various thugs
Locale: Appears to be Los Angeles, from the street names
Synopsis: Lou Harger, effeminate friend of Philip Marlowe, shows up in Marlow's office. Harger had owned a crooked roulette wheel, which allowed the operator to influence the results. The sheriff had confiscated it. That was OK with him, but somehow the wheel then wound up in Canales' casino, and they had no idea it was rigged.
Lou has a bright idea. He will go gamble on the wheel and win big, since the casino is unaware of its secret. Lou is too well known, so his gal Miss Glenn will do the gambling, while Marlowe stays in the background as a bodyguard. The scheme works too well. Miss Glenn rakes in $20,000; much to the dismay of the casino. So far, so good.
Next day, Miss Glenn appears at Marlowe's office with the $20,000, and tells him Lou is dead in her apartment, killed by casino thugs looking for the money. Marlowe goes to look but ... no body. Marlowe goes looking for him, knowing the casino crowd has it in for him anyway, as he had 'fingered' one of their own: Manny Tinnen (thus the title). Marlowe is grabbed and brought to the 'big guy', Frank Dorr, the owner of the casino.
Review: This is a concise little hard-boiled story with tough guys and one glamorous girl, lots of shooting, and the requisite witty repartée between the big mob boss and the captured hero. Snappy language, such as "As a bluff, mine was thinner than the gold on a weekend wedding ring." The cover art pretty much sums it up: two guys, a girl with lots of cash, and a roulette wheel.
Major characters:
Philip Marlowe, private eye
Lou Harger, his dapper friend
Miss Glenn, Lou's tall, red-headed gal
-- Canales, manager of a casino
Frank Dorr, the 'big guy' casino owner
various thugs
Locale: Appears to be Los Angeles, from the street names
Synopsis: Lou Harger, effeminate friend of Philip Marlowe, shows up in Marlow's office. Harger had owned a crooked roulette wheel, which allowed the operator to influence the results. The sheriff had confiscated it. That was OK with him, but somehow the wheel then wound up in Canales' casino, and they had no idea it was rigged.
Lou has a bright idea. He will go gamble on the wheel and win big, since the casino is unaware of its secret. Lou is too well known, so his gal Miss Glenn will do the gambling, while Marlowe stays in the background as a bodyguard. The scheme works too well. Miss Glenn rakes in $20,000; much to the dismay of the casino. So far, so good.
Next day, Miss Glenn appears at Marlowe's office with the $20,000, and tells him Lou is dead in her apartment, killed by casino thugs looking for the money. Marlowe goes to look but ... no body. Marlowe goes looking for him, knowing the casino crowd has it in for him anyway, as he had 'fingered' one of their own: Manny Tinnen (thus the title). Marlowe is grabbed and brought to the 'big guy', Frank Dorr, the owner of the casino.
Review: This is a concise little hard-boiled story with tough guys and one glamorous girl, lots of shooting, and the requisite witty repartée between the big mob boss and the captured hero. Snappy language, such as "As a bluff, mine was thinner than the gold on a weekend wedding ring." The cover art pretty much sums it up: two guys, a girl with lots of cash, and a roulette wheel.
October 5, 2020
1960 Ace books edition contains 3 short stories am introduction and the critical essay 'The simple art of murder'. The 3 stories are Chandler through and through, but when prefaced with the self-aware and self-critiquing introduction they shift the readers perspective to that of the critic. But in my eyes, they still hold up. There's less of Chandler's signature metaphors and one liners and the pace is doubled, but a lot of what the average fan knows and loves 'femme fatales, alcohol, jazz clubs, elusive triggermen' remain at the core. The fact that you then get Chandler's essay 'The Simple Art of Murder' included gives you insight into how the authors mind works. He delves into Poirot, The Red House Mystery, and praises Dashiell Hammett as the shining light of the hard boiled detective author group.
This is a must have/read for those who are not only a fan of Raymond Chandler, but those who 'look beyond the unnecessarily gaudy covers, trashy titles and the barely acceptable advertisements and recognise the authentic power of a kind of writing that even at its most mannered and artificial made most of the fiction of the time taste like a consomme at a spinsterish tearoom.'
This is a must have/read for those who are not only a fan of Raymond Chandler, but those who 'look beyond the unnecessarily gaudy covers, trashy titles and the barely acceptable advertisements and recognise the authentic power of a kind of writing that even at its most mannered and artificial made most of the fiction of the time taste like a consomme at a spinsterish tearoom.'
May 27, 2025
An interesting mystery, but the twists are a little loose and the story a little hapzard. The Finger Man still has that signature Chandler style and feel so it was still an enjoyable read all things considered.
June 20, 2021
Pretty good with a nice plot. You can see the makings of a good character.
March 22, 2024
It's not bad, but I prefer Chandler's longer works, where he has more possibilities to unfold the crime and acquaint better the readers with his characters.
April 29, 2025
short and sweet. you can feel that Marlowe is a dropped in element and not the original protagonist, but for a 50 odd page novella it's got a zip and good twists.
May 23, 2025
Chandler tells a great story. This one goes in many directions.
July 9, 2024
Relato muy corto
April 9, 2018
Ranná rýchlovka s mladým Marlowom
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