First published in the Thirties in Black Mask, these eight stories see Chandler already master of his art. Killer in the Rain, The Curtain, Bay City Blues- all of them come charged with the authentic smell of fear that caused Elizabeth Bowen to acclaim Chandler as 'not just one more detective writer - he is a craftsman so brilliant, he has an imagination so wholly original, that no consideration of modern American literature ought, I think, to exclude him'.
'Anything he writes about grips the mind from the first sentence. It is a spare, finished performance- full of life and character- as tense as a tiger, springing into action.'
Daily Telegraph

'Chandler is a serious writer, an original stylist.'
Anthony Burgess