Raymond Chandler created one of the most indelible characters of American literature: Philip Marlowe, protagonist of seven Chandler novels, portrayed on screen by Humphrey Bogart and (even better) Elliott Gould. But there's another character in almost all of Chandler's hard-boiled crime fiction that is even more significant than Marlowe, and that is Los Angeles. In his new book, The World of Raymond Chandler, Barry Day devotes chapters to both Marlowe and the City of Angels, piecing together a biography of the great writer by using excerpts from his novels and his letters, with contextual notes and background that propel a compelling narrative.

Chandler became one of the best chroniclers of Los Angeles in part because he viewed the territory as an outsider. Born in Chicago and raised in Nebraska and England, Chandler "was a man out of time and place," Day writes, "attempting to make sense of an alien land and culture." In chapters focused on Los Angeles and its Hollywood enclave, Day draws from Chandler's fiction to paint a portrait of the city. Through Marlowe, Chandler captured the magical appeal of this sunny and strange city, as well as its sinister and desperate edge, writing in The Big Sleep: "The bright gardens had a haunted look, as though wild eyes were watching … from behind the bushes, as though the sunshine itself had a mysterious something in the light." In "Pickup on Noon Street," he wrote, "There were neon signs behind thick curtains of mist. There was no sky."

In Marlowe's own chapter, Day pieces together bits of biographical detail from the novels and stories to provide a full image of the character: Born around 1905, an only child raised in Santa Rosa, and a high school football player who could quote Proust, Austen, and Flaubert.

The World of Raymond Chandler is an excellent companion to the works of the writer. It teleports fans back into Chandler's universe and offers an invaluable introduction for those new to his work. With its macrocosmic view of his Los Angeles, it reinforces a marvelous invention born from alien observation.