The Long Goodbye by Raymond ChandlerRead about another entry on the list.
Terry Lennox's wife has been murdered, and he calls on his pal, the private eye Philip Marlowe, to spirit him across the border to Mexico. Meanwhile best-selling novelist Roger Wade has disappeared, and his wife hires Marlowe to find him. Then things get really complicated. This is surely the finest of Chandler's Marlowe novels, a complex and rancid tale of multiple betrayals.
The Long Goodbye is among Melissa Albert's top four books that will drive all but the staunchest teetotaler to the nearest cocktail shaker, some Guardian readers' ten best writers in novels, David Nobbs's top five faked deaths in fiction, Malcolm Jones's ten favorite crime novels, David Nicholls' ten favorite film adaptations, and John Mullan's list of ten of the best fake deaths in fiction.
--Marshal Zeringue