SOURCE: "Man with a Toy Gun," in The New Republic, Vol. 146, No. 19, May 7, 1962, pp. 21-2.

In the following review of Raymond Chandler Speaking, Pollock describes Chandler's writings in light of significant events in his life.

Following in Dashiell Hammett's footsteps, Raymond Chandler brought a new vigor to detective fiction. His books sold in the millions but they were detective stories not serious literature, and so he was never invited to join the Boys in the Back Room, not even for a short beer. He died in La Jolla, California, March 26, 1959, at the age of 70. Raymond Chandler Speaking is a collection of excerpts from letters to friends, publishers, agents, and others during the forties and fifties. It also contains an unpublished short story, two articles, and the opening chapters of a new Philip Marlowe novel called The Poodle Springs Story which he did not live to finish.

Chandler began...