[Marlowe was] the kind of man who would knock out a thug with ease and then start mus­ing about why the guy turned crooked and whether he had a wife and kids. And he was even known to refuse sex: “It’s great stuff, like chocol­ate sundaes. But there comes a time when you would rather cut your throat.”

Jake Kerridge on Raymond Chandler’s novels.

► Raymond Chandler’s nov­els under the mag­ni­fy­ing glass — Telegraph