Raymond Chandler and the Long Embrace

A new biography of Raymond Chandler focuses on his intense relationship with his wife Cissy, as well as his later loneliness and depression. Reviewer Richard Rayner notes that: "Chandler is so much a part of the furniture that we tend to forget how great he is." Isn't that the truth. I still think it's the mark of writing "detective" novels that's always kept Chandler out of the elite ranks, not any deficiency in his writing.