From his 1938 story, "Red Wind."
"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
It's so hot if someone fell asleep in an empty bathtub overnight, by the time they woke up hours later the bathtub would be full.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Raymond Chandler line is, "The coffee worked its way round his veins like a prospective tenant looking over a new apartment."
ReplyDeleteDave, that's plain-old good writing.
ReplyDeleteHow hot? Mark Twain put it this way:
ReplyDelete”In India 'cold weather' is merely a conventional phrase and ha come inte use through the necessity of having som e way to distinguish between wheter which will melt a brass doorknop and weather which will only make it mushy.”
How hot? Mark Twain put it this way:
ReplyDelete”In India 'cold weather' is merely a conventional phrase and have come inte use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass doorknop and weather which will only make it mushy.”
Another great Chandler line, "The voice came up from inside her slowly like an old person getting out of a chair."
ReplyDelete