Top 23 amazing--and short--classic books

One title on the Huffington Post's list of classic works that are all under 200 pages:

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (144 pages)

This crime novel features Chandler's famous character PI Philip Marlowe. An old man is being blackmailed and he wants Marlowe to make it stop.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Big Sleep also appears on Lucy Worsley's ten best list of fictional detectives, Becky Ferreira's list of seven of the best books set in Los Angeles, Ian Rankin's list of five perfect mysteries, Kathryn Williams's reading list on greed, Gigi Levangie Grazer's list of six favorite books that became movies, Megan Wasson's list of five top books on Los Angeles, Greil Marcus's six recommended books list, Barry Forshaw's critic's chart of six American noir masters, David Nicholls' list of favorite film adaptations, and the Guardian's list of ten of the best smokes in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue