If you liked… The Big Sleep
In the first of a new series, we showcase an all-time classic crime novel, and suggest some titles from the Bookdagger publishers that hit the same spot. This month, it’s Raymond Chandler’s masterful The Big Sleep.
Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But 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…
Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is considered to be the original and the best private investigator – but that’s not to say he hasn’t got any competition. Here are some other books that you should check out if you enjoyed The Big Sleep and Chandler’s other Marlow tales, Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Good-bye.
Bone in the Throat, by Anthony Bourdain
A modern take on American noir: All is not well at the Dreadnought Grill . . . the chef has a smack habit, the owner has been set up by the FBI and in the midst of this, the sous-chef Tommy is just trying to do his job. As depraved as it is hilarious, Anthony Bourdain’s first novel is street smart and spiced with drugged-up savvy, foul-mouthed feds and salty mob speak. With a cast of unforgettables like the hitman who covers himself in clingfilm to avoid leaving fingerprints and a plot with more twists than a plate of spaghetti, Bone in the Throat rocks through the streets of Manhattan at a blistering pace.
Loser’s Town, by Daniel Depp
Summoned to the trailer of a Hollywood star who’s receiving death threats, former stuntman-turned-private investigator, David Spandau, assumes this will be another routine case. It turns out to be anything but. A-list actor Bobby Dye has become entangled with B-list gangster Richie Stella, who just wants to make a movie – and you can’t make a movie without a star. But as Richie and his cohorts are about to find out, the movie business makes the cocaine and heroin racket look like child’s play. Meanwhile, Spandau finds himself drawn ever deeper into the crazy world of Bobby Dye, one of the handsomest, most idolized men on the planet – and also one of the loneliest. All Bobby wants is someone to talk honestly to him – but can he really cope with the blunt and bitter truth?
Greenwich Killing Time, by Kinky Friedman
Greenwich Killing Time marked the debut of the Kinkster, the wise-cracking, cigar-smoking, cat-loving sleuth. The scene of the crime is Greenwich Village. The corpse is found holding eleven pink roses – and the suspects are as strange as the crime. A wild and witty journey into the dark heart of Manhattan, this novel remains the perfect introduction to America’s most outrageous singer-songwriter turned gumshoe detective – and if you enjoy it, there are plenty more stories to check out.
