Sep 22nd, 2008 · Crime novelist James Crumley's detective tales were filled with sex, drugs, violence and profanity, and inspired comparisons to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, among others. Crumley died Sept. 17 in Missoula, Mont. He was 68.
May 5th, 2008 · Hard-boiled is the phrase most often used to describe Raymond Chandler's quintessential private eye, Philip Marlowe. The truth is: It isn't Marlowe who is hard-boiled, it's the world he lives in. For "In Character," our series exploring famous American fictional characters, NPR's Mike Shuster examines the PI who was created in the 1930s and has gone through several incarnations in radio, film and television.