Spillikins in the Parlor: Raymond Chandler, Realism and the Golden Age of Detective Fiction

This paper reexamines Raymond Chandler’s influential critique of British Golden Age detective fiction, which promoted hard-boiled realism against the perceived artifice of Golden Age stories. While acknowledging the impact of Chandler’s essay “The Simple Art of Murder”, I submit that his critique oversimplifies the complexity and enduring appeal of works by authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Contemporary scholarship reveals that Golden Age detective fiction engaged deeply with social, psychological, and gender issues through sophisticated narratives. By reassessing these works and challenging Chandler’s reductive categorization, this paper seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of the literary value and cultural significance of Golden Age detective fiction