Gone But Not Forgotten: Raymond Chandler Died On This Date in 1959

Biography.com notes that the late great crime writer Raymond Chandler died on this date in 1959.

Raymond Chandler, the creator of the wise-cracking, tough guy private detective Philip Marlowe, was born on July 23, 1888. His novels included such crime classics as The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Little Sister and The Long Goodbye.

You can read about Raymond Chandler at biography.com via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/raymond-chandler-9244073

You can also read about Raymond Chandler's influence on crime novels and crime films via my Crime Beat column via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/11/on-raymond-chandlers-influence-on-crime.html

Poe's Philadelphia, Evermore

Arielle Emmett wrote an interesting piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer about the late great Edgar Allan Poe and his Philadelphia connection.

You wouldn't know from a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination that his dead wife showed up on stilts to dance with him one night. You wouldn't suspect from the richness of his poetry and short stories that Poe and his family were starved for calories for much of their lives. And you wouldn't guess from the bitter obituary written by his literary executor and rival Rufus Griswold - who claimed that Poe "had few or no friends" and that few would grieve for him - that his reading public not only adored Poe, but would soon elevate him to the status of dark literary god.
Nothing about Poe seems obvious: not the literary squabbles that cost him the support and admiration of people who could have furthered his career; not the scandals surrounding his flirtations with drugs, booze, and married women; not even the details of his mysterious death in a Baltimore hospital.

Poe remains a giant of mysteries, and Philadelphia was where many of those mysteries were born.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20121019_Poe_s_Philadelphia__evermore.html