The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions, one filmed in 1946, and one filmed in 1978. It is the first novel to feature the detective Philip Marlowe, and is considered one of Chandler's greatest

The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions, one filmed in 1946, and one filmed in 1978. It is the first novel to feature the detective Philip Marlowe, and is considered one of Chandler's greatest works, and one of the seminal works of hardboiled fiction.

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the sprawling mansion of the quadriplegic General Sternwood. He asks Marlowe to deal with a blackmailer named Arthur Gwynn Geiger, apparently a purveyor of rare books. Geiger is involved with the General's nymphomaniac daughter Carmen, and makes her sign promissory notes. Marlowe tells the general that he will persuade Geiger to stop. Before Marlowe leaves, Vivian Regan, the General's other daughter queries Marlowe about the nature of his visit. She is under the impression that he is looking for her ex-husband, Sean "Rusty" Regan who had disappeared about a month ago. Marlowe visits Geiger's bookshop, where he discovers that the assistant, Agnes, knows absolutely nothing about rare books. While he is waiting to talk with Geiger, a customer visits the back room of the store and leaves with a book. After following him and taking the book, Marlowe deduces that Geiger loans out pornography, and then blackmails his customers. Marlowe goes back to the store to see Geiger leaving, and follows him to his house, where he waits outside. After some time, he hears gunshots and a woman's scream. He breaks his way into the house and finds Geiger dead on the floor in front of a camera. Carmen is posing, nude and drugged with laudanum. He takes Carmen home, but doesn't call the police. When he returns to the scene, he discovers that the body has been removed.