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THE BIG SLEEP (1939) is a seminal work in the hardboiled detective genre, and it’s among the best of the Raymond Chandler books. It showcases Chandler’s masterful use of sharp dialogue, complex characters and his gritty depiction of 1930s Los Angeles.

This classic hardboiled detective novel introduces private eye Philip Marlowe. Hired to resolve a blackmail scheme, Marlowe uncovers a web of corruption and murder. It revolutionized crime fiction, establishing a template for noir storytelling that continues to influence literature and film.

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Pulp Magazines and Black Mask

English detective stories “are too contrived, and too little aware of what goes on in the world. … The boys with their feet on the desks know that the easiest murder case in the world to break is the one somebody tried to get very cute with; the one that really bothers them is the murder somebody thought of only two minutes before he pulled it off. But if the writers of this fiction wrote about the kind of murders that happen, they would also have to write about the authentic flavor of life as it is lived.” (The Simple Art of Murder, Raymond Chandler)

Pulp magazines (printed on wood-pulp paper) were a cheap source of popular entertainment that sometimes mixed in subversive social commentary. The format was invented in 1882 as a vehicle for children’s adventure stories. By the 1920s, pulps specialized in detective stories, love stories, westerns, …. During the Depression, they provided a sense of escape. [The Annotated Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (eds. Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Rizzuto)]

“In 1931 my wife and I used to cruise up and down the Pacific Coast in a very leisurely way, and at night, just to have something to read, I would pick a pulp magazine off the rack. It suddenly struck me that I might be able to write this stuff and get paid while I was learning.” [The Annotated Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (eds. Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Rizzuto)]

“It took me a year to write my first story. I had to … learn to write all over again.” [The Annotated Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (eds. Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Rizzuto)]

The emotional basis of the standard detective story had always been that justice will be done. Its technical basis was the relative insignificance of everything except the final denouement. What led up to that was more or less passagework. The denouement justified everything. (Trouble Is My Business, Raymond Chandler)

The technical basis of the Black Mask type of story, however, was that the scene outranked the plot. The ideal mystery was one you would read if the end was missing. (Trouble Is My Business, Raymond Chandler)

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THE BIG SLEEP (1939) is a seminal work in the hardboiled detective genre, and it’s among the best of the Raymond Chandler books. It showcases Chandler’s masterful use of sharp dialogue, complex characters and his gritty depiction of 1930s Los Angeles.

This classic hardboiled detective novel introduces private eye Philip Marlowe. Hired to resolve a blackmail scheme, Marlowe uncovers a web of corruption and murder. It revolutionized crime fiction, establishing a template for noir storytelling that continues to influence literature and film.

Get your book here! Or Anthony's annotated version here!
Watch clips from our conversations with guests!
Join our Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.

Here are some questions and discussion starters here. Also – we want to hear from YOU! Share your thoughts, and we may just include them in our upcoming episodes!

Philip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler Books)

Marlowe is 33 and went to college once. He’s a bit of a cynic, and his manners are bad. He was fired for insubordination. “I test very high on insubordination.”

American hero: “Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious” (NYT Book Review).

Prometheus: “Marlowe is Prometheus [of American myth]: the noble outsider, sacrificing and enduring for a code he alone upholds.” [The Annotated Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (eds. Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Rizzuto)]

Honest: Vivian asks if Marlowe is honest. “Painfully,” he says. He tells Carmen he has “professional pride.” Her father trusts him not to “pull any stunts.”

Tough Guy: He’s tough, clever, and a good judge of character. His speech is brash and witty.

Self-Destructive streak? “I had concealed a murder and suppressed evidence for twenty-four hours, but I was still at large and had a five-hundred-dollar check coming. The smart thing for me to do was to take another drink and forget the whole mess. That being the obviously smart thing to do, I called Eddie Mars and told him I was coming … That was how smart I was” (ch. 21).

Catalyst: There are the aficionados of deduction and the aficionados of sex who can’t get it into their hot little heads that the fictional detective is a catalyst, not a Casanova. (Trouble Is My Business, Raymond Chandler)

Dashiell Hammett’s Influence on the Raymond Chandler Books

The famous Detection Club: “Its roster includes practically every important writer of detective fiction since Conan Doyle. But Graves and Hodge decided that only one first-class writer had written detective stories at all. An American, Dashiell Hammett. … Graves and Hodge were not fuddy-duddy connoisseurs of the second-rate; they … were aware that writers who have the vision and the ability to produce real fiction do not produce unreal fiction.” (The Simple Art of Murder, Raymond Chandler)

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Puja Guha grew up and has worked all over the world. Her spy thriller series THE AHRIMAN LEGACY is an Amazon bestseller, and she has been featured on TV and media, including Fox5, Reader’s Digest, and The London Post.

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Espionage. Assassins. Middle East. 2021.

Three years ago, a traumatic op forced her into a quiet life as an analyst. But after new intel surfaces on a terrorist plot Kuwait, intelligence agent Petra Shirazi has no choice but to return to the field. Thrust back into a violent world she vowed to leave behind, Petra must face her personal demons and her guilt over the death of one of her sources.

A money trail exposes a massive wave of terrorist attacks, implicating the highest levels of the Kuwaiti and Iranian governments. All signs point to the Ahriman, the Iranian mastermind behind the cruelest and deadliest attacks in history. Petra must confront her past if she is to stop the world from tilting into an abyss from which there is no return. The race to stop the Ahriman begins.

Fans of global espionage thrillers like Patriot Games and The Day of the Jackal will love this fast-paced spy novel from master storyteller Puja Guha. Find out why The US Review of Books says: “Like Grisham and Clancy … this title shines among the genre simply through superb storytelling.”

Let’s talk about Kuwait. You were inspired to write Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction while visiting family in Kuwait. You thought about the nuances of the Kuwaiti political system.

• Kuwait is a major oil exporter and historically one of the richest countries in the Middle East.
• Of the 4.8M people living in Kuwait, 1.5M are Kuwaiti citizens; the rest are foreign nationals.
• Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy. The Emir (king) doesn’t have legislative powers while the National Assembly (Parliament) is in session. The Emir can disband the Assembly.
• The monarchy is more moderate than the democratically elected Assembly. The monarchy has enabled progress for women (not requiring burkas; women can drive, vote, and run for office). Women gained the right to vote in 2005. Accused of being puppets of the west.
• Political instability and chronic political deadlock have hampered Kuwait’s economic development and infrastructure. Islamist and liberal factions can’t agree on anything, including how many traffic lights to install on one of the main roads.

In the prologue, we meet Kasem Ismaili and “Lila’s” friend Nurah Bahar. Jamal is sleeping on Kasem’s sofa. Kasem is kidnapped. Puja Guha, how did you decide to the start the novel here?

Petra attends a meeting. “The eight individuals in the room covered as many countries, each with their own unique ethnic and racial backgrounds” (7-8). A secret organization was created to cater to global intelligence needs without being bogged down in political bureaucracy (121). The Agency tackles global threats other intelligence organizations can’t handle. Let’s talk about the Agency.

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Yes, you read that right! 2024! Due to Carolyn & Sarah's lives exploding they've been getting the episodes out a bit slower than they would prefer. Not to worry, they are actively working on solutions to be able to make more time to catch up on getting book discussions out to you!

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Listen to Sarah & Carolyn discuss the entire 2024 book club selection as a group, talk through favorites, stand outs, and the progression of the club in its third year.

Tea, Tonic, and Toxin is a book club and podcast for people who love mysteries, thrillers, introspection, and good conversation. Your hosts, Carolyn Daughters and Sarah Harrison, are discussing game-changing mysteries, starting with Edgar Allan Poe onward. Together, we’ll watch the genre evolved.

Along the way, we’ll entertain ideas, prospects, theories, doubts, grudges, fabulous guests, and interviews with talented, contemporary mystery authors. Together, we’ll experience the joys of reading the best mysteries and thrillers ever written.

Carolyn has loved mysteries ever since she and her sister Michele started the CarMich Detective Agency when they were kids. Though she has never solved a crime, she is an excellent detective. When she isn't trying to convince people she's an excellent detective, she's busy running her company, CarolynDaughters.com, serving as a fractional chief marketing officer for small businesses, teaching persuasive writing courses, exploring new neighborhoods on foot, photographing street art, and boarding planes early and often (47 states, 42 countries, and counting). She's coming for you, North Dakota and Bhutan.

Want to discuss our book selections? Hoping to be a guest on our show? Ready to become a sponsor?

Reach out, and you might just get an on-air shout out and an awesome sticker!

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Ann Claire joins us in studio to discuss Dead and Gondola, the first book in her Christie Bookshop Mystery series. The second book in the series, Last Word to the Wise, was released in 2023.

Her Bookmobile Mysteries, Santa Fe Cafe Mysteries, and Cyclist’s Guide Mysteries are available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats on Amazon and from other booksellers.

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Ann earned degrees in geography, which took her all across the world. Now she lives with her geographer husband in Colorado, where the mountains beckon from their kitchen windows.

When she’s not writing, you can find her hiking, gardening, herding housecats, and enjoying a good mystery, especially one by Agatha Christie.

Dead and Gondola is the series debut of the Christie Bookshop Mystery series by author Ann Claire. A mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, compelling the Christie sisters and their cat, Agatha, to call on all they’ve learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist.

Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter. She’s recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their beloved cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible by ski gondola and a twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintry whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out.

The victim was a mysterious stranger who’d visited the bookshop. At the time, his only blunders had been disrupting a book club and leaving behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel, written under a pseudonym. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Motives and secrets swirl like the snow, but when the police narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.

Although the only Agatha in their family tree is their cat, Ellie and Meg know a lot about mysteries and realize they must summon their inner Miss Marple to trek through a blizzard of clues before the killer turns the page to their final chapter.

BookPage says, “Dead and Gondola is a lighthearted, fast-paced cozy mystery with a cast of likeable characters. … Who wouldn’t want to ride a glass-domed gondola to a historic bookshop and cozy up by the fire with a good read?” Publishers Weekly wrote, “A fair-play plot, vivid characters, fascinating facts about Dame Agatha, and an intelligent and appealing protagonist make this a winner. Cozy fans will chomp at the bit for more.”

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The intricate plot, morally complex characters, and exploration of the human psyche in A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS (THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS) (1939) make it one of the first modern suspense thrillers. Eric Ambler paved the way for such writers as John Le Carré, Len Deighton, and Robert Ludlum. It’s one of TIME Magazine’s 100 best mystery and thriller books of all time.

Special guest Neil Nyren joins us to discuss the book. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

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Neil Nyren is the former executive vice president (EVP), associate publisher, and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Neil is the winner of the 2017 Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2025 Thriller Legend award from the International Thriller Writers.

Neil joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss A Coffin for Dimitrios (also published as The Mask of Dimitrios), a 1939 thriller by Eric Ambler.

You can read Neil’s many articles on Crime Reads here.

The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time (TIME Magazine)
“In an Eric Ambler spy novel, the hero is usually an ordinary fellow who lands in an unfamiliar foreign city and soon finds himself in rising water. In A Coffin For Dimitrios, published in 1939, the city is Istanbul between the world wars, and the hero is a writer intrigued by a newly dead Greek criminal whose life story leads him deep into the Balkans, and worse. Everything unfolds with the brisk tension and debonair assurance that made Ambler fans of everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to John le Carré to Alan Furst, and anchored the nascent genre in a kind of dashing realism.” —Karl Vick (TIME Magazine editor)

“I set out to improve a shoddy article,” Eric Ambler once explained. “Dorothy Sayers had taken the detective story and made it literate. Why shouldn’t I do the same for spies?”

Neil, you wrote, “Eric Ambler was the father of the modern thriller. John Le Carré called him ‘the source on which we all draw,’ and Len Deighton, ‘the man who lit the way for us all.’ Frederick Forsyth said he was the man ‘who took the spy thriller out of the gentility of the drawing room and into the back streets where it all really happened.’ Graham Greene called him ‘unquestionably our best thriller writer.’”

Neil, you wrote, “I’ve worked with many writers of international suspense, and whenever I’ve wanted to recommend a book to any of them that captures the genre as well as any book possibly can—this is the one I send them to.”

Neil, you wrote, “Before Eric Ambler, international thrillers were dominated by such writers as John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps) and their many imitators.” Talk a bit about the difference between these earlier books and books like Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household and A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Amble

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The intricate plot, morally complex characters, and exploration of the human psyche in A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS (THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS) (1939) make it one of the first modern suspense thrillers. Eric Ambler paved the way for such writers as John Le Carré, Len Deighton, and Robert Ludlum. It’s one of TIME Magazine’s 100 best mystery and thriller books of all time.

Special guest Neil Nyren joins us to discuss the book. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

Get your book here!
Watch clips from our conversation with Neil!
Join our Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.

Neil Nyren is the former executive vice president (EVP), associate publisher, and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Neil is the winner of the 2017 Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2025 Thriller Legend award from the International Thriller Writers.

Neil joins Tea, Tonic & Toxin to discuss A Coffin for Dimitrios (also published as The Mask of Dimitrios), a 1939 thriller by Eric Ambler.

You can read Neil’s many articles on Crime Reads here.

Among the writers of crime and suspense he has edited are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, John Sandford, C. J. Box, Robert Crais, Carl Hiaasen, Daniel Silva, Jack Higgins, Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, Jonathan Kellerman, Martha Grimes, Alex Berenson, Thomas Perry, Gerald Seymour, Ed McBain, and Ace Atkins. In all, he has edited more than 300 New York Times bestsellers.

Neil Nyren was awarded the 2017 Ellery Queen Award for “outstanding people in the mystery publishing industry” from the Mystery Writers of America. He also received the 2025 Thriller Legend award from the International Thriller Writers.

Besides still editing two of his longtime authors, he now writes about crime fiction and publishing for CrimeReads, BookTrib, The Big Thrill, and The Third Degree, among others. He is also a contributing writer to the Mystery Writers of America’s Anthony/Agatha/Macavity-winning How to Write a Mystery. He has spoken at conferences from Maine to Florida and from South Carolina to Hawaii.

The Opening

Neil, you wrote, “Eric Ambler’s heroes, especially in his between-wars novels (1936-1940), are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. They’re often engineers, journalists, or writers who stumble into danger through a combination of bad judgment and bad luck and then have no choice but to try to dig themselves out of it … They are solidly middle class, raised in a world of black-and-white certainties that they discover has been completely obliterated by gray.”

Neil, you wrote, “Eric Ambler’s villains live in that gray. They’re criminals, conmen, governments, corporations, revolutionaries, spies, and corrupt officials. … They’re realists. They’ve calculated what it takes to succeed and are willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. If those acts are considered reprehensible by others, that’s not their problem.”

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Ten strangers, each with a dark secret, are lured to a remote island and drawn into a deadly game. As the body count rises, paranoia intensifies in this classic whodunit. Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1939) will keep you guessing until the very end. Check out the And Then There Were None notes below!

Special guest Ann Perramond joins us to discuss the best-selling crime novel of all time. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

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Justice Wargrave (good name) is described as looking cruel, predatory, and inhuman. He’s the logical choice for U.N. Owen, the man playing judge, jury, and executioner. How is the opening (and the narrator’s ability to dip in and out of all characters’ heads) a red herring? Were you misled?

Did you know anything about And Then There Were None before reading it? If so, did this impact your experience of the novel? (It reminded us of Knives Out. And the movie Clue!)

Who did you think the killer was before the identity is revealed? Was there anyone you suspected? Did you think someone was hiding on the island? (Sarah thought someone had to be hiking on the island.)

Suspense thriller author Dean Koontz says people are always living in a “constant state of suspense.” Do you feel that suspense is a fundamental part of human existence? Are people constantly wondering about the future, facing unknown situations, and dealing with uncertainty? PARANOIA

Did knowing the characters’ responsibility for the deaths of innocents impact how you felt when the characters themselves were murdered?

And Then There Were None notes about death order: Justice Wargrave arranges the deaths of the various characters in order of ascending culpability. “Anthony Marston and Mrs. Rogers died first, the one instantaneously, the other in a peaceful sleep.” Marston, I recognized, was a type born without that feeling of moral responsibility which most have. He was amoral–pagan. Mrs. Rogers, I had no doubt, had acted very largely under the influence of her husband.” Do you agree with his assessment of the characters’ relative guilt?

Incorporated into this is the level of guilt they felt about their crime. Wargrave gives Marston one of the easiest deaths. He killed two children he could barely remember and felt no remorse. Claythorne, who killed a child for love and felt remorse, has the worst death. This makes no sense. A lack of remorse feels more monstrous. Also, the general killed for revenge against the man sleeping with his wife behind his back. This feels again more understandable than Marston. Is Emily Brent really worse than Rogers, who committed actual murder? Both are witholders in some way. One withheld medicine. One withheld pity.

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