The Man Who Liked Dogs

by Raymond Chandler

A la recherche d'une jeune fille disparue, le détective privé Carmady n'a qu'un seul indice : elle était accompagnée de son chien, Voss...
Et qui sait jusqu'où peut conduire l'amour de la race canine ! ? Une enquête rythmée et surprenante par l'un des maîtres du roman noir américain.

Genres: Crime, Short Stories

Audio Cassette

First published March 1, 1936

About the author

Raymond 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."

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raymond Chandler has deserved the accolades he’s received for his detective fiction. Novels, such as The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely are iconic in the genre. “Chandler was by 1931 a highly paid vice president of the Dabney Oil Syndicate, but his alcoholism, absenteeism, promiscuity with female employees, and threatened suicides[8] contributed to his dismissal a year later.” What better time to change careers and become a detective fiction writer?

The novella, The Man Who Loved Dogs, was bought by the pulp fiction publisher, Black Mask, early in his career. Like, Dashiell Hammett before him, Chandler started off with fairly brutal plots (see Hammett’s Red Harvest) and then “cannibalized” them for future novels. Elements of this story come back in Farewell, My Lovely.

Here, Carmady, the P.I., has the “simple task” of locating a young woman who has run-away or disappeared. Her dog is with her and becomes a significant part of the plot. Carmady tracks her to a small Southern California coastal town and is within range of finding her when everything disintegrates.

As in Red Harvest, it is almost impossible to find anyone worthy of veneration or even mildly trustworthy in the story. Carmady is lied to, bludgeoned, filled full of dope, institutionalized, jailed, shot and set up, all within these few pages. The resolution involves things far beyond returning a runaway.

Hardly pausing for breath, this is a raw (rather than polished) yarn that was an accurate picture of current tastes in pulp fiction and a harbinger of success to come for Chandler.

I did not want to look at my decade-old review before I started to read this story again. Apparently my views haven't change significantly.
2026
" I walked four blocks east to a bus line and waited for a bus. There was no alarm, no cruising car looking for me. The bus came and I rode downtown, went to a Turkish Bath establishment, had a steam bath, a needle shower, a rub-down, a shave, and the rest of the whisky. I could eat then. I ate and went to a strange hotel, registered under a fake name. It was half past eleven. The local paper, which I read over more whisky and water, informed me that one Dr. Richard Sharp, who had been found dead in a vacant furnished house on Carolina Street, was still causing the police much headache. They had no clue to the murderer as yet. The date on the paper informed me that over forty-eight hours had been abstracted from my life without my knowledge or consent."

""Ah, Carmady," he said, chasing my card over the glass top of his desk, "with two a's, eh? Down here on a job?" "A little trouble," I said. "You can straighten it out, if you will." He stuck his chest out, waved a pink hand and lowered his voice a couple of notches. "Trouble," he said, "is something our little town don't have a lot of. Our little city is small, but very, very clean. I look out of my west window and I see the Pacific Ocean. Nothing cleaner than that. On the north Arguello Boulevard and the foothills. On the east the finest little business section you would want to see and beyond it a paradise of well-kept homes and gardens. On the south--if I had a south window, which I don't have--I would see the finest little yacht harbor in the world, for a small yacht harbor." "I brought my trouble with me," I said."

We have Raymond Chandler in the raw, here. Chandler who hadn’t yet developed Philip Marlowe. Yet, Carmady has some of the same moral code and cynical p.o.v. that is narrated with a sarcastic tone.

The story is rough around the edges but follows Carmady’s dogged (pun intended) pursuit of a runaway young girl…..a pursuit that involves many of the later elements of crime, private hospitals, and idiosyncratic characters.

Well worth the time for those interested in how Chandler honed his talents.



3.5*

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1936, when Chandler was far from being famous, this is not necessarily a bad story, but too much shooting and too many innocent (or not) casualties are not everyone's cup of tea...

PS: Bay City is a thin disguise for Santa Monica, the living place of the author's for quite many years.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You know what I think? I think everybody in this rotten town is nuts.”

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of the collection Killer In the Rain.

[Gregory Van Den Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Man Who Liked Dogs is a short story by Raymond Chandler, first published in March 1936, featuring his classic detective fiction style with a private investigator in 1930s Los Angeles getting involved in a murder mystery connected to a man with a fondness for dogs. The story is known for its noir atmosphere, witty dialogue, and intricate plot, and it was later incorporated into his novel Farewell, My Lovely. Key aspects of the story:
Genre: Crime fiction, mystery, thriller, noir.
Plot: A private investigator takes a case involving a missing girl, leading him to a mysterious man who loves dogs, uncovering a web of deception and murder.
Setting: 1930s Los Angeles, with its smoky bars and shadowy alleys.
Style: Classic Chandler, with sharp storytelling, vivid characters, and atmospheric tension. Plot OverviewThe story takes place against the gritty backdrop of 1930s Los Angeles:The Mission: A private investigator is hired to locate a missing young woman who ran away from home.The Clue: The detective tracks her down by following her dog, leading him to a small, corrupt Southern California coastal town.The Twist: The simple missing person case unravels into a massive criminal conspiracy involving a crooked local police chief, an institutionalized psychiatric hospital, bank robbers, and an offshore gambling boat.You should read The Man Who Liked Dogs because it offers a masterclass in noir atmosphere and a fascinating look at how the legendary Philip Marlowe universe was born.Why It Is Worth Your TimeFast-Paced Prototype: At around 50 pages, it delivers a punchy, action-packed mystery that you can finish in a single sitting.The Master of Dialogue: You get to experience Raymond Chandler's trademark sharp wit, gritty street slang, and poetic similes at their peak.Why It Is Worth Your TimeFast-Paced Prototype: At around 50 pages, it delivers a punchy, action-packed mystery that you can finish in a single sitting.The Master of Dialogue: You get to experience Raymond Chandler's trademark sharp wit, gritty street slang, and poetic similes at their peak.Literary History: It is a literal blueprint. Chandler stripped this exact plot and its characters to build his famous 1940 novel, Farewell, My Lovely.Atmospheric Time Capsule: The story vividly transports you to the corrupt, foggy coastal towns and gambling ships of 1930s Southern California.Subversion of Tropes: Unlike typical hard-boiled detectives who only care about cash and liquor, the hero here relies heavily on his love for and understanding of dogs to solve the crime.

[Mojtaba R · Rating 3 out of 5]

مطابق با روایت «مردی که سگ‌ها را دوست داشت»، داستان با کارمادی شروع می شود؛ کارآگاهی که در جستجوی یک سگ است. بی‌تعادلی آغاز می شود و نویسنده در کار داستان، گره می اندازد. این سگ، نشانه ای است که می تواند او را به دختر گمشده رهنمون کند. او سگ را پیدا می کند و آنچه را که لازم است با زبان تهدید از دامپزشک به دست می آورد و سپس دامپزشک را تعقیب می کند. دامپزشک از آنجا که ترسیده بود، قصد داشت سگ را به صاحبانش تحویل دهد. او وارد یک خانه شد. کارآگاه متعاقب او وارد خانه مزبور شد و با جسد بی جان دامپزشک مواجه شد. در این‌جا کشمکش داستان به نقطه طلایی خودش می رسد. سنت و دیانا یا همان جری نیز به سوی او نشانه رفته بودند. قبل از آنکه بخواهند کاری کنند، صدایی از بیرون آمد؛ صدای آژیر پلیس بود. گروهبان وقتی داخل شد، ضربه ای به سر کارآگاه زد، کارآگاه وقتی چشم باز کرد خود را در یک بیمارستان دید که در آن به زور بهش مواد تزریق می کردند. او بعد از چند ساعت متوجه شد که کجاست. در تلاش برای فرار از دارالمجانین با دکتر و پرستار قلابی و گروهبان مواجه شد. آنها او را زدند و سعی در کشتن او داشتند که سر و کله سنت و دیانا هم پیدا شد. آنها شروع به تیراندازی کردند که در جریان این درگیری، گروهبان و دیانا و پرستار و پزشک مردند. سنت فرار کرد و پلیس ها سر رسیدند. کارمادی به رئیس پلیس اطلاعات را داد و از او خواست ادامه پرونده را نیز به او بسپارد. رئیس پلیس که فردی چاق و بدعنق بود، پذیرفت. کارمادی از دیانا قبل از مرگ، مکان اسنر را پرسیده بود، اما تنها کلمه ای که از او شنید، "مانتی" بود. کارمادی شبی که مشغول پیاده روی کنار ساحل بود، متوجه یک کشتی می شود. از هات‌داگ فروشی راجع به کشتی می پرسد. هات‌داگ فروش به او می گوید که آن کشتی تفریحی است و مبدأ و مقصد خاصی ندارد و مانتسیو نام دارد. کارآگاه به واژه مانتی پی می برد و مطمئن می شود که اسنر آنجاست. یک قایق اجاره می کند تا به آنجا برود. رئیس پلیس را هم در جریان می گذارد. وقتی وارد کشتی می شود، به جستجو می پردازد و اسنر را می بیند و در اولین مواجهه با سنت او را نقش زمین می کند. کارآگاه با آمدن رئیس پلیس متوجه ماهیت او می شود و طی درگیری، رئیس پلیس و سنت و سگش می میرند و داستان در پایانی باز بدون اشاره به سرنوشت دختر گمشده به پایان می رسد.

[Amir Sheikhzadeh · Rating 2 out of 5]

واقعا نفهمیدم داستان چی بود، از کجا شروع شد، به کجا می‌رفت و کجا تموم شد. ترجمه خیلی واضح و درست نبود، هر جا که مترجم علاقمند بود ادبی می‌شد و هرجا می‌خواست خودمونی. اگر ترجمه درست می‌بود داستان هم واضح می‌شد. تجربه خیلی عجیبی بود. کاش اینترنت درست درمون داشتیم مثل اثر قبلی می‌رفتم انگلیسی دانلود می‌کردم و می‌خوندم.

[Grazyna Nawrocka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a big fun of Chandler, but his stories are written well, have twisted plots and credible characters. Something is amiss in his writing, however. I am not emotional about those stories. They are like solving a puzzle - good to kill some time, but not touching.

[Lee Kierdorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty fun

It's all about the dialog between the characters. The private eye seems clueless. But there is more to him than we guess. He stumbles his way along and we follow him wondering what comes next.

[Greg Brandenburgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chandler Yes!

It is an early Chandler novella, but it still sings. A great faint for fans of Raymond Chandler and hard boiled detective fiction

[Thomas R. Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chandler

There’s just something about how Chandler handles a story that keeps me coming back. Is it my imagination or do I see Bogart in every tale?

[Wolfe Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of this story was later used to more effect in Farewell my lovely.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: a detective gets caught up in a complicated case in a seaside town where corruption can be found almost everywhere.

[Michael Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced, but classic

[Mark Marin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad short story, but a fair amount of it seems recycled from a Philip Marlowe (Farewell, My Lovely) story.