Today I would like to introduce you to a "tough guy detective" literature, "The Long Confession" by Raymond Chandler.
Chandler was one of the spokesmen of 20th-century American literature, and he used textbook-level polished writing to create the classic image of Marlowe, and since then the tough guy has had the shadow of Marlowe.
It's like Keigo Higashino's Kyoichiro Kaga, Agatha's Poirot, and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
I read this book because of the recommendation of my idol Haruki Murakami, who said: Whenever someone asks me which three books are most important to me, I can answer "The Great Gatsby", "The Brothers Karamazov" and "The Long Confession" without thinking.
And this "The Long Confession" is also because of Haruki Murakami I know, because of this, I became a Chandler book fan, of course, his other Marlowe series I haven't read, such as "Long Sleep", "Goodbye, My Love", "High Window", "Woman Under the Lake", "Little Sister", etc., are all Marlowe series.
When I have time, I will definitely buy it and read it.
Without further ado, today I will introduce to you the book "The Long Confession".
The story takes place in Los Angeles, USA, outside the terrace of the Dancers Club, a mysterious and elegant drunkard and a lonely and unruly tough guy detective meet, the tough guy Marlowe brings the drunk Terry home, treats him to a cup of coffee, smokes a cigar, the drunk has nothing but politeness, but when Terry leaves, I don't know what moved Marlowe, it may be the scar on his face, a clear voice, or polite manners, maybe these are enough, this is Marlowe's self-justification.
Without Marlowe, Terry would have been a lost dog, but luckily, he met Marlowe, a tough guy detective, and their friendship began, and the story began.
When Marlowe sees Terry again, Terry becomes a murderer, a murderer who kills his wife. He asked Marlowe to take him to the airport to Mexico, and naturally, he must have been discovered along the way, and from then on, Marlowe was involved in a ** case.
Marlowe knew that Terry was not **, but all the evidence pointed to him, and Terry's escape was the best proof, and then Terry shot himself in a small hotel in Mexico, so it became a headless case.
Marlowe knows that Terry is not **, but he wants to give Terry a clean slate, a clean slate to the dead, a 5,000 dollar bill, a screwdriver, and a friendship between men.
Marlowe had to look it up, he found the best-selling author, he found the writer's daughter-in-law, and finally the death of the best-selling writer couple opened the puzzle for Marlowe.
He knows who this series of ** is, but he is not satisfied, he is still lonely, he goes to the bar to drink screwdrivers, alone, he doesn't know who to say goodbye to, because to say goodbye is to die a little bit.
The last time he saw Terry was because of the color of Terry's eyes, and they had another screwdriver at the bar, and Marlowe returned the five-thousand-dollar bill to Terry, and just like that, Marlowe and his wine cooler friend parted.
He didn't say goodbye, because they had already said it, because it was meaningful to say goodbye then, and then goodbye was sad, lonely and decisive.
And the goodbye at this moment is a complete goodbye and has no meaning.
Marlowe is a tough guy, but he is a tough guy with affection and righteousness, a **, a mystery, from beginning to end, it is a long goodbye, a farewell between men.