Raymond Chandler Books in Order
33 books are credited to Raymond Chandler, published between 1933 and 2020; 10 of them appeared after Raymond Chandler's death in 1959. The first book is Stories and Early Novels (1933) and the newest is I’ll Be Waiting (2020). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 33
- Published
- 1933–2020
- Confirmed
- 33 of 33 titles
- Pages on record
- 7,300 in 19 of 33 books
- Reading time
- 122–183 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 7,300 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 19 of 33 titles with a page count on record.
Philip Marlowe is the private investigator of the hard-boiled fiction of Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 to March 26, 1959), an American-British novelist and screenwriter. Chandler turned to detective fiction in 1932 at age 44 after losing an oil company executive job in the Great Depression. The first short story, Blackmailers Don't Shoot, ran in the pulp magazine Black Mask in 1933, and the first novel, The Big Sleep, followed in 1939. Chandler published seven novels in life; Robert B. Parker completed an eighth. The catalogue lists 33 books through 2020, including short story collections and non-fiction.
How many Raymond Chandler books are there?
Raymond Chandler has 33 books, released between 1933 and 2020. 10 of them were published after Raymond Chandler's death in 1959. 8 of them belong to the Philip Marlowe series.
Raymond Chandler Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 33 Raymond Chandler books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1193310763/4
- 219365923/4
- 31938–3/4
- 419392313/4
- 51939–3/4
- 619402303/4
- 719422653/4
- 819432663/4
- 919441233/4
- 101944–3/4
- 111945–3/4
- 121946–3/4
- 131946–3/4
- 141947–3/4
- 1519492503/4
- 1619503773/4
- 1719506423/4
- 181951–3/4
- 191952–3/4
- 2019533793/4
- 2119531923/4
- 2219581663/4
- 2319581993/4
- 2419655383/4
- 251976–3/4
- 26The Notebooks of Raymond ChandlerRaymond Chandler Short Stories/Novellas #81976 · 113 pages · confirmed 3/419761133/4
- 2719815263/4
- 281981593/4
- 291989–3/4
- 30199510763/4
- 311996–3/4
- 322014–3/4
- 332020–3/4
Raymond Chandler series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Philip Marlowe books in order 13 books
Raymond Chandler books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Raymond Chandler Short Story
11 books11 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Raymond Chandler Short Stories/Novellas
8 books8 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Raymond Chandler Non-Fiction
4 books4 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Screenplays in order
2 booksRaymond Chandler Books in Chronological Order
By publication date, the Raymond Chandler books run from Stories and Early Novels (1933) to I’ll Be Waiting (2020), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Raymond Chandler in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.
Do you have to read Raymond Chandler books in order?
You only need to read Raymond Chandler books in order within the Philip Marlowe series, which holds 8 of the 33 Raymond Chandler books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Raymond Chandler
Start with The Big Sleep (1939), the first Philip Marlowe book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Stories and Early Novels (1933).
What is the newest Raymond Chandler book?
I’ll Be Waiting (2020) is the newest Raymond Chandler book released so far.
Is there a new Raymond Chandler book coming?
No next Raymond Chandler book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Raymond Chandler has won
Wikidata records 1 award for Raymond Chandler. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel1955Wonfor The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler at a glance
- Died
- Raymond Chandler died in 1959, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Raymond Chandler are still being published after Raymond Chandler's death in 1959; the newest appeared in 2020.
- Release pace
- Raymond Chandler books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 7,300 pages across the 19 of 33 books with a recorded length, a median of 265 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Raymond Chandler books, 10 of 33, were published in the 1940s.
What the Raymond Chandler books are about
19 of the 33 Raymond Chandler books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: private investigators is tagged on 12 of 19. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Private investigators 12 of 19 books
- Marlowe, philip (fictitious character) 8 of 19 books
- Mystery & detective, hard-boiled 8 of 19 books
- Philip Marlowe (Fictitious character) 8 of 19 books
- Mystery & detective 7 of 19 books
- California 4 of 19 books
- Los Angeles (Calif.) 4 of 19 books
- Authorship 2 of 19 books
- Chandler, raymond, 1888-1959 2 of 19 books
- Hard-Boiled 2 of 19 books