Raymond Chandler — American Writer born on July 23, 1888, died on March 26, 1959

Raymond Thornton Chandler was a British/American novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at age forty-four, Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime. All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some several times. In the year before he died, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26, 1959, in La Jolla, California... (wikipedia)

I do a great deal of research - particularly in the apartments of tall blondes.
Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.
Good critical writing is measured by the perception and evaluation of the subject; bad critical writing by the necessity of maintaining the professional standing of the critic.
She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.
Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.