Chandler, Raymond – The Bell Bookshop

Raymond Chandler BBC Drama x 14 CD’s

Emma — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The complete collection of landmark BBC Radio dramas of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe mysteries.

Philip Marlowe is the archetypal noir detective: wisecracking and world-weary, hardboiled yet honourable. This volume includes all eight dramatisations of Raymond Chandler’s groundbreaking crime novels featuring his iconic hero.

The Big Sleep Marlowe is consulted by a wealthy family man with two big problems: his children.

Farewell My Lovely Marlowe’s search for an ex-con’s ex-girlfriend leads him into danger.

The High Window When rare gold coin is stolen from her collection, Mrs Murdoch hires Philip Marlowe to find it.

The Lady in the Lake Businessman Derace Kingsley hires Marlowe to find his estranged wife Crystal.

The Little Sister Commissioned to find Orfamay Quest’s missing brother, Marlowe is drawn into the glamorous film world of Hollywood.

The Long Goodbye Marlowe befriends a drunk named Terry Lennox, but comes to regret doing him a favour.

Playback Hired to follow the mysterious Betty Mayfield, Marlowe soon finds that he is being tailed too…

Poodle Springs Newly-married Marlowe puts his bride aside to look for a gambler on the run.

Starring Toby Stephens as Philip Marlowe, these stylish, suspenseful dramatisations – full of witty, ironic dialogue and colourful characters – bring the beautiful, corrupt world of California in the ’40s and ’50s to luminous life. Duration: 11 hours approx.

Lady In Lake

Emma — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

‘Everything was quiet and sunny and calm. No cause for excitement whatever. It’s only Marlowe, finding another body. He does it rather well by now. Murder-a-day Marlowe, they call him . . .’

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to find a missing woman. Derace Kingsley’s wife ran away to Mexico to get a divorce and marry a hunk named Chris Lavery. Or so the note she left her husband says. Trouble is, when Philip Marlowe asks Lavery about it he denies everything. But when Marlowe next encounters Lavery, he’s denying nothing – on account of the two bullet holes in his heart. Now Marlowe’s on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy Los Angeles all the way to a murky mountain lake . . .

The Lady in the Lake is Raymond Chandler’s fourth novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.

‘Chandler’s best novels carry the crime story to levels of artistry that have rarely been matched’ Daily Mail

‘Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence’ Daily Telegraph

‘One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain’ Sunday Times

‘Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes’ Anthony Burgess

The High Window

Emma — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In The High Window, Marlowe starts out on the trail of a single stolen coin and ends up knee-deep in bodies. His client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband’s collection. That’s the simple part. But Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead. If Marlowe doesn’t wrap this one up fast, he’s going to end up in jail – or worse, in a box in the ground. Starring Toby Stephens, this thrilling dramatisation by Robin Brooks retains all the wry humour of Chandler’s serpentine suspense novel.

2 CDs. 1 hr 26 mins.

Big Sleep

Emma — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

‘I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.’

Los Angeles Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wheelchair-bound General Sternwood to discover who is blackmailing him. A broken, weary old man, Sternwood just wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. However, with Sternwood’s two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA’s seedy backstreets, Marlowe’s got his work cut out. And that’s before he stumbles over the first corpse.

The Big Sleep is Raymond Chandler’s first novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.

‘One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain’ Sunday Times

‘Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence’ Daily Telegraph

‘One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain’ Sunday Times

‘Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes’ Anthony Burgess

Discover the newest addition to the inimitable Philip Marlowe series – Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne – out 6 September 2018 in hardback and ebook from Hogarth.

Farewell My Lovely

Emma — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Farewell My Lovely, Marlowe has a chance encounter with a not-so-gentle giant outside Florian’s nightclub. Just released from prison, Moose Malloy is looking for his old flame, red-haired Velma Valento, who he last saw eight years ago. Before Marlowe can blink, Malloy has smashed up the club, broken the manager’s neck and headed out of the door. Marlowe knows this mess is none of his business, but he has a hunch that he can find Velma. He just has to hope that curiosity doesn’t get him killed as well… Starring Toby Stephens, this fast-paced dramatisation is full of wisecracks and colourful characters, and retains all the charm and humour of Chandler’s stylish, suspenseful novel.

2 CDs. 1 hr 26 mins.

The Big Sleep

Emma — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. The Big Sleep finds the world-weary, wisecracking investigator consulted by a wealthy family man with two big problems: his children. Carmen Sternwood has got herself mixed up with a blackmailer, while Vivian has managed to mislay her husband, ex-bootlegger Rusty Regan. Old, ailing General Sternwood hires Marlowe to take care of things – but it’s not too long before the bodies start piling up, and Marlowe finds himself knee-deep in trouble… Starring Toby Stephens, this landmark dramatisation retains all the suspense and excitement of Chandler’s complex and compelling novel.

2 CDs. 1 hr 26 mins.

Farewell My Lovely

Emma — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

‘I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room’

Cynical Los Angeles Private Investigator Philip Marlowe always falls for a sob story. Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married – until Malloy was framed for armed robbery. Now he’s out and he wants Velma back. Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe’s search for Velma turns up plenty of gangsters with a nasty habit of shooting first and talking later. And soon what started as a search for a missing person becomes a matter of life and death . . .

Farewell, My Lovely is Raymond Chandler’s second novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.

‘Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence’ Daily Telegraph

‘One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain’ Sunday Times

‘Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes’ Anthony Burgess

Discover the newest addition to the inimitable Philip Marlowe series – Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne – out 6 September 2018 in hardback and ebook from Hogarth.