About 7 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 16 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe befriends Terry Lennox, a hard-drinking war veteran married into money, and agrees to drive him to Tijuana without asking questions. Back home, Marlowe learns that Lennox's wife has been murdered and the police suspect him of helping her husband escape. A separate assignment draws him into the household of Roger Wade, an alcoholic novelist whose wife needs help finding him.
Reader notes
Marlowe narrates in sardonic, conversational wisecracks, though his attachment to Lennox makes the case painfully personal. The hard-boiled detective story deals as much with loyalty as professional investigation, and heavy drinking and alcoholism recur throughout.
How it reads
Writing style
Atmospheric · Descriptive · Direct · Witty
Tone
Dark · Detached · Melancholic · Tense
Structure
Braided · Linear
Driven by
Character · Ideas · Mystery
Point of view
First person
Setting
Los Angeles · Tijuana
Reading complexity
Writing
3 / 5
Ideas
3 / 5
Structure
3 / 5
Background knowledge
2 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Not really, though the measured pace and braided investigations call for some attention. Marlowe’s narration is conversational and full of sardonic wisecracks, with direct prose alongside atmospheric description.
Is it a fast-paced detective story?
No, the pace is measured, with character and ideas sharing attention with the mystery. Marlowe’s attachment to Lennox makes the investigation painfully personal, giving the noir story a melancholic tone.
What strong content should I expect?
Strong substance use centers on heavy drinking and recurring alcoholism: Lennox is a hard-drinking war veteran, and Roger Wade is an alcoholic novelist. Violence, abuse, and self-harm or suicide are mild.
What does it explore beyond the mystery?
Loyalty and friendship are central, especially as Marlowe’s bond with Lennox complicates his professional investigation. Addiction, class, justice, and morality also shape the story’s interest in knowledge and truth.
How long is it?
384 pages in the Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 1988 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard · 1988 · Paperback. ISBN 9780394757681.
What is the order of books in Philip Marlowe?
1. The Big Sleep; 2. Farewell, My Lovely; 3. The High Window; 4. The Lady in the Lake; 5. The little sister; 6. The Long Goodbye; 8. Trouble is my business.
How long does it take to read The Long Goodbye?
About 7 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 384-page Vintage Crime/Black Lizard edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter whose compact body of detective fiction helped establish Los Angeles as a defining landscape of noir. He began writing crime stories in his forties, after losing his job as an oil-company executive, and first published in the pulp magazine Black Mask. His debut novel, The Big Sleep, introduced private investigator Philip Marlowe, the central figure in nearly all of his novels. Across The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake, Chandler sends Marlowe through cases whose apparent simplicity gives way to networks of money, secrecy, violence, and compromised authority. The plots are intricate, but Chandler’s distinction lies equally in voice: direct, atmospheric prose sharpened by dry wit, vivid description, and alert dialogue. The Long Goodbye broadens this method through Marlowe’s uneasy friendship with Terry Lennox, bringing loyalty and personal responsibility closer to the foreground. Chandler wrote only seven completed novels, alongside short stories and screenplays, but his recurring detective and unsentimental vision gave the work an unusual coherence.
