The chief suspect is the daughter-in-law of the officious widow Murdock, who is Marlowe's not very likeable client. Marlowe is hired to retrieve what is thought to be a stolen rare coin from the Murdock family collection. The High Window starts off with what seems like a simple straightforward case. These share the spare cover art of the 1988 Vintage Crime / Black Lizard paperbacks, presumably due to a Random House publishing umbrella tie-in. I had previously enjoyed Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2) (1940) from him as well. The 2021 series has the great veteran audiobook narrator Scott Brick as its reader and he adopts the perfect cynical tone for the hardboiled detective. excerpt from The High WindowĪudible recently had another $5 Special Offer of one of the 2021 Raymond Chandler / Philip Marlowe audiobooks and I snapped it up immediately. excerpt from The High WindowĬlass is a thing that has a way of dissolving rapidly in alcohol. The white moonlight was cold and clear, like the justice we dream of but don't find. The night was all around, soft and quiet. I opened the screens and stepped out on to the porch. Knopf hardcover edition (1942)Īfter a moment I pushed my chair back and went over to the french windows. Review of the Random House Audio audiobook (2021) narrated by Scott Brick of the original Alfred A. Despite that this book is worth reading for Chandler's writing style alone. There is also a pervading cynicism throughout, intended I believe, that began to wear a bit thin towards the end. Marlowe is as hard-boiled, wise-cracking as ever but otherwise there aren't any really likeable characters in it. There seemed an added confidence in the writing which is as rich as ever, with some terrific descriptions of people and places, but I found it harder to engage with this one as much as I had the others. We see that that under his hard shell lurks a big heart as he goes out of his way to help and take care of a seemingly innocent, long-suffering character.

'High Window is the third in the series and sees Philip Marlowe trying to track down a rare gold coin that was part of a collection left to a mean spirited and totally unpleasant 'dried up husk of a woman' who treats her highly strung secretary horribly, by her late husband.Ī bit more of Marlowe's character is fleshed out in this book. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away'

'From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class.

The high window