The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 7 books · 1939 to 1958 · Set in Los Angeles

Raymond Chandler

Crime and mysteryPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled

Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private eye with a code of honour and a line in wisecracks, walks the city’s mean streets through seven novels that defined hard-boiled detective fiction.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Poodle Springs, completed by Robert B. Parker, and the short stories are left out.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Raymond Chandler books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Philip Marlowe

7 books · Set in Los AngelesPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled
  1. 1The Big Sleep1939With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Farewell, My Lovely1940With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  3. 3The High Window1942With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  4. 4The Lady in the Lake1943With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  5. 5The Little Sister1949With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  6. 6The Long Goodbye1953With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon
  7. 7Playback1958With Philip MarloweBuy on Amazon

Characters

7 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Marlowe’s Los Angeles