Rejoicing in Chandler’s Birth

Since I’ve been more or less faithful in making note of Raymond Chandler’s birthday ever since 2006, I was planning to let today--which marks 125 years since the author took his very first breath in Chicago, Illinois--pass by without any significant remarks. However, I was apparently alone in that decision.

In this new piece, The Daily Telegraph’s Jake Kerridge looks back at Chandler’s roots and his entry into the detective-fiction field. Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph highlights a recorded 1958 conversation between Chandler and James Bond creator Ian Fleming (which The Rap Sheet also noted a few years ago). Jason Diamond of Flavorwire has posted a list of what he thinks are the finest film adaptations of Chandler’s fiction. (Click here to watch trailers for those pictures.) And The Paris Review acknowledges the author’s natal day by posting one of many memorable quotes from The Big Sleep.

While we’re on the subject of birthdays, perhaps I should remind everyone that tomorrow would have been the 97th birthday of John D. MacDonald. Unfortunately, he died back in 1986.