Chandler’s “Ten Commandments for the Detective Novel”

Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet asks:

Am I the only one who doesn’t remember seeing Raymond Chandler’s “Ten Commandments for the Detective Novel” before?

No, Jeff, you are not alone.

Pierce "came across this list while surfing through The Thrilling Detective Web Site earlier today. Apparently, these 'commandments' were published previously in The Book of Literary Lists: A Collection of Annotated Lists of Fact, Statistics, and Anecdotes Concerning Books (1985), edited by Nicholas Parsons. While Chandler’s prescriptions are quite different from S.S. Van Dine’s 'Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories,' the two make good companions."

Click here to read Chandler's rules and Pierce's partial disagreement.

Visit The Thrilling Detective.

--Marshal Zeringue