"The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler (Book Club Edition -- 1954)

Raymond Chandler's ace detective, Philip Marlowe, is back for another round of fast-paced, hard-hitting mystery as he tries to help a man who may -- or may not -- have killed someone. While Chandler is a master of murder tales, he's also a virtuoso of the wisecrack, littering Marlowe's thoughts and dialogue with gems like this from the inside of the dust jacket:

"What makes a man stay with it nobody knows. You don't get rich, you don't often have much fun. Sometimes you get beaten up or shot at or tossed into the jailhouse. Once in a long while you get dead. Every other month you decide to give it up and find some sensible occupation while you can still walk without shaking your head. Then the door buzzer rings and you open the inner door to the waiting room, and there stands a new face with a new problem, a new load of grief, and a small piece of money."

This copy is in good vintage condition.