Raymond Chandler turned pulp fiction into art with his novels about murders and gumshoe Philip Marlowe. His writing was descriptive, graceful, and, at moments, even sublime. His best novels captured a world where murders took place, but the people he created were believable. Sometimes Chandler’s plots were a little contrived, but his characters made it easy to overlook the flaws. Philip Marlowe made Los Angelos a real place apart from its movie star mystique.