The Big Sleep

 The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, 231 pages.

When a dying millionaire asks private detective Philip Marlowe to help him resolve a routine blackmailing case involving his daughter he instead finds himself drawn deeply into the sins of the Sternwood family. Soon a trail of bodies is left in the wake of his investigation, and if he's not careful Marlowe may just be next.

I've enjoyed many plays on the noir genre, so I thought I might enjoy this early progenitor of the genre. I can definitely see, for both better and worse, many of the genre conventions on display here. Unfortunately, this is a book that's so misogynistic it hurts the inherent frame of the story. The story entirely hinges on women acting in ways that make no sense at all, along with some dips into really astounding levels of homophobia. Overall this book reminds me a lot of Hemingway, which I don't mean in a complimentary way, but fans of that author may also like this book. As an additional insult, I didn't find the actual mystery particularly compelling, so it definitely doesn't make up for levels of bigotry that feel exceptionally high even by 1939 standards. I'm afraid I can't recommend this one, there are better detective stories.