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Bay City Blues
Bay City Blues is a classic crime story by Raymond Chandler, featuring his iconic detective Philip Marlowe in the fictional Southern California setting of Bay City (loosely based on Santa Monica), exploring gritty rackets, corruption, and the tough-guy elements Chandler is known for, with themes later reworked into his famous novels like The Lady in the Lake.
220 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1938
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About the author
Raymond Chandler
448 books5,627 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 12, 2026
Una novela negra que tiene todo lo que un lector de Chandler desea: un detective privado cínico, "femme fatale", policías corruptos, periodistas, buenas descripciones, una buena historia.
Tiene cosas buenas, pero a pequeña escala. John Dalmas no llega a las cotas de Marlowe y creo que tampoco lo pretendía Chandler.
Buena novela, corta e intensa.
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A crime novel that has everything a Chandler reader could want: a cynical private detective, a femme fatale, corrupt police officers, journalists, good descriptions, and a good story.
It has its good points, but on a small scale. John Dalmas does not reach the heights of Marlowe, and I don't think Chandler intended him to.
A good novel, short and intense.
Tiene cosas buenas, pero a pequeña escala. John Dalmas no llega a las cotas de Marlowe y creo que tampoco lo pretendía Chandler.
Buena novela, corta e intensa.
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A crime novel that has everything a Chandler reader could want: a cynical private detective, a femme fatale, corrupt police officers, journalists, good descriptions, and a good story.
It has its good points, but on a small scale. John Dalmas does not reach the heights of Marlowe, and I don't think Chandler intended him to.
A good novel, short and intense.
December 2, 2019
Raymond Chandler wrote a lot of pulp before he became the Raymond Chandler that many of us have come to know and love. This was written before 1940 for Dime Detective and it is what sold at that time: dark and brutal.
John Dalmas is our P.I. and his case begins in Los Angeles when his “friend” L.A. County Sheriff’s detective, “Violets M’Gee”, hands him an unsolved murder and a contact. Dalmas finds the contact dead and then we head into the weeds of local politics and corruption.
Before we are through there is a nasty mix of misogyny, racism, and beat downs/beat ups that would satisfy Quentin Tarantino.
Dalmas makes it through this gauntlet and solves a mystery that will boggle most minds with its complexity. Mostly of interest to those who like the period or are students of the arc of Chandler’s writing.
John Dalmas is our P.I. and his case begins in Los Angeles when his “friend” L.A. County Sheriff’s detective, “Violets M’Gee”, hands him an unsolved murder and a contact. Dalmas finds the contact dead and then we head into the weeds of local politics and corruption.
Before we are through there is a nasty mix of misogyny, racism, and beat downs/beat ups that would satisfy Quentin Tarantino.
Dalmas makes it through this gauntlet and solves a mystery that will boggle most minds with its complexity. Mostly of interest to those who like the period or are students of the arc of Chandler’s writing.
December 26, 2024
This one is certainly the most consistent short novel from the collection.
The characters have more deepness, there is a touch of humor, the final is unexpected.
Strangely or not, many elements (the doctor's wife killing, the new shoe clue, the redhead nurse, the blackmail...) are taken in a larger novel, The Lady in the Lake...
The characters have more deepness, there is a touch of humor, the final is unexpected.
Strangely or not, many elements (the doctor's wife killing, the new shoe clue, the redhead nurse, the blackmail...) are taken in a larger novel, The Lady in the Lake...
March 18, 2020
Ο μπαμπάς όλων νουαρ συγγραφέων γράφει μια σφικτοδεμένη, hard boiled νουβέλα.
Δεν λείπει τίποτα από κυνικότητα, δράση και αριστοτεχνική πλοκή, συστατικά που έχει κάθε νουαρ αφήγημα που σέβεται τον εαυτό του.
Δεν λείπει τίποτα από κυνικότητα, δράση και αριστοτεχνική πλοκή, συστατικά που έχει κάθε νουαρ αφήγημα που σέβεται τον εαυτό του.
March 8, 2019
Quattro racconti lunghi caratterizzati dalle classiche atmosfere noir e da un pungente sarcasmo. Non mancano le bottiglie, le pistole, le bionde e i tipi loschi.
Forse le prime due storie sono più noir nel senso più classico, in cui la città è non solo teatro ma anche protagonista; gli ultimi due pezzi sono invece più strani, più vicini al giallo, per temi trattati e per il contesto immerso nella natura. Ad ogni modo, una lettura più che piacevole.
La giada cinese 4
Blues di Bay City 5
La donna nel lago 5
In montagna non c'è pace 2.5
Forse le prime due storie sono più noir nel senso più classico, in cui la città è non solo teatro ma anche protagonista; gli ultimi due pezzi sono invece più strani, più vicini al giallo, per temi trattati e per il contesto immerso nella natura. Ad ogni modo, una lettura più che piacevole.
La giada cinese 4
Blues di Bay City 5
La donna nel lago 5
In montagna non c'è pace 2.5
January 31, 2022
Ίσως από τις πιο hard-boiled και σκληρές νουβέλες του Τσάντλερ με αρκετές δόσεις βίας (1938) που, ωστόσο, δεν ενοχλούν ιδιαίτερα. Σε αυτό συντελεί, βέβαια, καί το γεγονός ότι πρόκειται για νουβέλα (165 σελίδες) όπου οι ρυθμοί είναι αρκετά γρήγοροι και η προσωπικότητα των ηρώων 'ξεδιπλώνεται' εύκολα.
Οι διάλογοι είναι πικάντικοι, έξυπνοι και με αρκετή μαγκιά, ενώ οι φόνοι δεν μπορεί να καταλάβει ο αναγνώστης αν συνδέονται ή όχι παρά μόνο στο τέλος. Το Μπέι Σίτυ είναι ένα μέρος ευλογημένο φαινομενικά, αλλά κρύβει ένα 'πρόσωπο' απληστίας και αγριότητας.
Είναι μία από τις πιο κυνικές στιγμές του Τσάντλερ που, όμως, αξίζει το κόπο να διαβαστεί, ειδικά, μέσα στη ζέστη του καλοκαιριού.
Βαθμολογία: 3,7/5 ή 7,4/10.
Οι διάλογοι είναι πικάντικοι, έξυπνοι και με αρκετή μαγκιά, ενώ οι φόνοι δεν μπορεί να καταλάβει ο αναγνώστης αν συνδέονται ή όχι παρά μόνο στο τέλος. Το Μπέι Σίτυ είναι ένα μέρος ευλογημένο φαινομενικά, αλλά κρύβει ένα 'πρόσωπο' απληστίας και αγριότητας.
Είναι μία από τις πιο κυνικές στιγμές του Τσάντλερ που, όμως, αξίζει το κόπο να διαβαστεί, ειδικά, μέσα στη ζέστη του καλοκαιριού.
Βαθμολογία: 3,7/5 ή 7,4/10.
February 25, 2016
Η πρώτη μου επαφή με τον Raymond Chandler δεν ήταν κάτι το εξαιρετικό αλλά ήταν σίγουρα ευχάριστη. Δε φτάνει στα άρρωστα επίπεδα της Agatha Christie και του Arthur Conan Doyle αλλά δεν έχει μείνει αδίκως στην ιστορία ως ένας από τους κλασικούς της αστυνομικής λογοτεχνίας. Στο μέλλον θα τιμήσω και άλλα βιβλία του.
ΥΓ: Γιατί "Μπέυ Σίτι Μπλουζ"; Θα έπρεπε να είναι κλασικά ως "Bay City Blues". Το μόνο ελάττωμα σε μία ακόμα εξαιρετική έκδοση των εκδόσεων Ερατώ.
ΥΓ: Γιατί "Μπέυ Σίτι Μπλουζ"; Θα έπρεπε να είναι κλασικά ως "Bay City Blues". Το μόνο ελάττωμα σε μία ακόμα εξαιρετική έκδοση των εκδόσεων Ερατώ.
March 4, 2022
Un 3,25. Un libro entrenido, con elementos clásicos del género detectivesco y negro: asesinatos, corrupción, conjuras, etc. Merece la pena leerlo.
March 20, 2022
Read as part of the collection Killer In the Rain.
June 19, 2025
Opening sentence sets the tone…
It must have been Friday because the fish smell from the Mansion House coffee-shop next door was strong enough to build a garage on.
Chandler is so good…
It must have been Friday because the fish smell from the Mansion House coffee-shop next door was strong enough to build a garage on.
Chandler is so good…
January 8, 2019
Η σύζυγος του γιατρού Όστριαν βρίσκεται νεκρή απο δηλητηρίαση με μονοξείδιο και καθώς φαίνεται αυτοκτόνησε. Ο Μέιτσον , ο οποίος την βρήκε δέχεται απειλές και εγκαταλείπει την πόλη.
Τηλεφωνεί στον ντετέκτιβ Ντάλμας ωστε να αναλάβει την υπόθεση στέλνοντας του ενα στοιχείο που αλλάζει τα δεδομένα της.
Ενα κλασσικό έργο που σε κάνει να νομίζεις οτι βλέπεις παλιά αστυνομική ταινία. Με γρήγορη πλοκή μιας κ ειναι μικρό, έξυπνους διαλόγους και απροσδόκητο τέλος.
Τηλεφωνεί στον ντετέκτιβ Ντάλμας ωστε να αναλάβει την υπόθεση στέλνοντας του ενα στοιχείο που αλλάζει τα δεδομένα της.
Ενα κλασσικό έργο που σε κάνει να νομίζεις οτι βλέπεις παλιά αστυνομική ταινία. Με γρήγορη πλοκή μιας κ ειναι μικρό, έξυπνους διαλόγους και απροσδόκητο τέλος.
April 9, 2025
La señora Austrian, mujer de un reconocido doctor de Los Ángeles, tiene un enfrentamiento en el Club Conreid de Bay City y después aparece su cadáver en circunstancias que instan a pensar que se trata de un suicidio.
Es en ese instante cuando le encargan el trabajo de investigación al sabueso Dalmas, que orientado por su olfato de sabueso, tratará de llegar hasta el fondo del asunto, teniendo que lidiar en el camino con personajes como Helen Matson, el policía De Spain o el matón Gran Mentón.
Una trama que se encasilla desde la primera hasta la última hoja dentro del género de novela negra clásica, donde el nombre del asesino no se descubre hasta en último párrafo.
Obra escrita con maestría por Raymond Chandler donde demuestra que cualquier historia, por pequeña que sea, la puede convertir en un gran thriler sirviéndose de un protagonista atractivo y bien caracterizado y unas descripciones deliciosas.
Es en ese instante cuando le encargan el trabajo de investigación al sabueso Dalmas, que orientado por su olfato de sabueso, tratará de llegar hasta el fondo del asunto, teniendo que lidiar en el camino con personajes como Helen Matson, el policía De Spain o el matón Gran Mentón.
Una trama que se encasilla desde la primera hasta la última hoja dentro del género de novela negra clásica, donde el nombre del asesino no se descubre hasta en último párrafo.
Obra escrita con maestría por Raymond Chandler donde demuestra que cualquier historia, por pequeña que sea, la puede convertir en un gran thriler sirviéndose de un protagonista atractivo y bien caracterizado y unas descripciones deliciosas.
November 22, 2025
Un policial con charcos de sangre, policías en problemas y un detective que a pesar de sentirse un perdedor entiende y sabe cómo armar y desarmar un caso de asesinato, o supuesto suicidio.
Acción, apuestas, y tiros.
Acción, apuestas, y tiros.
October 12, 2024
estuvo bien la verdad, es entretenido pero no sé si lo recomendaría
April 29, 2013
Jonny Dalmas, der Protagonist dieses Hörbuches, ist ein typischer Vertreter für den 'hardboiled detective'. Als einsamer Wolf erfüllt er die Aufträge seiner Kunden, egal welche Schwierigkeiten sich ihm in den Weg stellen. In diesem Fall erhält er einen Auftrag über einen befreundeten Polizisten, doch seinen eigentlichen Auftraggeber trifft er nur noch tot an. Kurz danach findet er sich neben einer ebenfalls toten rothaarigen Frau wieder, ganz klar mit der Absicht, ihn als Mörder darzustellen.
Die Story ist so spannend und verwickelt, dass es keine Schwierigkeit darstellt, sich beide CDs in einem Rutsch anzuhören. Doch durch Christian Brückners Lesung fällt es sogar richtig schwer, sich vor dem Ende wieder auszuklinken. Seine Stimme ist derart passend für den 'hardboiled detektive' und das ganze Drumherum, dass man die Szenerien förmlich vor sich sieht. Lakonisch, völlig illusionslos über die Eigenarten der Menschen trifft Brückner exakt den Ton der Hauptfigur Jonny Dalmas. Toll!
Etwas überrascht war ich über die Brutalität in dieser Geschichte. Eine überaus blutige Prügelei, die schon fast in eine Folterszene ausartet, wird über 10 Minuten sehr detailliert wiedergegeben - hier trifft das 'hardboiled' nicht nur auf den Detektiv zu. Ansonsten: Spannender Krimi mit einem genialen Vorleser!
Die Story ist so spannend und verwickelt, dass es keine Schwierigkeit darstellt, sich beide CDs in einem Rutsch anzuhören. Doch durch Christian Brückners Lesung fällt es sogar richtig schwer, sich vor dem Ende wieder auszuklinken. Seine Stimme ist derart passend für den 'hardboiled detektive' und das ganze Drumherum, dass man die Szenerien förmlich vor sich sieht. Lakonisch, völlig illusionslos über die Eigenarten der Menschen trifft Brückner exakt den Ton der Hauptfigur Jonny Dalmas. Toll!
Etwas überrascht war ich über die Brutalität in dieser Geschichte. Eine überaus blutige Prügelei, die schon fast in eine Folterszene ausartet, wird über 10 Minuten sehr detailliert wiedergegeben - hier trifft das 'hardboiled' nicht nur auf den Detektiv zu. Ansonsten: Spannender Krimi mit einem genialen Vorleser!
August 26, 2016
De los primeros libros que me regalaron, luché con él durante años, porque quería disfrutarlo, y terminarlo y, eventualmente fanfarronear... pero no. No lo logré. Nunca lo pude siquiera terminar.
A favor del autor, nunca me han gustado los libros de crímenes. A favor del autor, yo todav��a era una adolescente. A favor de mí, no hay edad quizá más adecuada para leer de crímenes, de la adolescencia. A favor de mí, luché.
Pero no me gustó, y al final desistí, y se es el recuerdo que tengo. Quizá igual sea un libro buenísimo. Como dice el ranchero "no soy monedita de oro para caerle bien a todos", y tampoco lo era Chandler.
A favor del autor, nunca me han gustado los libros de crímenes. A favor del autor, yo todav��a era una adolescente. A favor de mí, no hay edad quizá más adecuada para leer de crímenes, de la adolescencia. A favor de mí, luché.
Pero no me gustó, y al final desistí, y se es el recuerdo que tengo. Quizá igual sea un libro buenísimo. Como dice el ranchero "no soy monedita de oro para caerle bien a todos", y tampoco lo era Chandler.
May 17, 2015
La aventura nocturna del detective Johnny Dalmas que sentó las bases del estilo explotado por Chandler. Una historia generosa en escenarios y caracterizaciones que se volverían lugar en el género negro, anticipando de paso elementos que el escritor presenta después en "El Sueño Eterno".
August 2, 2011
Noir does not get any better than this.
January 27, 2014
Leggete quello di dinahrose, se non lo capite evitate di tornare qui. Anzi evitate di tornare.
July 5, 2016
No está mal, pero nada supera a los relatos protagonizados por Philip Marlowe.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews