E. Howard Hunt left a legacy of more than forty five popular thrillers. Many were written under pseudonyms because his day job.

Hunt’s day job? — Spook Extraordinaire.

E. Howard Hunt is forgotten as a prolific award-winning novelist, recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship (beating out Truman Capote and Gore Vidal for the honor) or his serving in both the USN and USAF, reporting from battlefronts or manning far flung CIA posts. What Hunt is most remembered for is his role in plotting the Bay of Pigs invasion and serving 33 months in jail time for his part in the Watergate break-in.

Amongst the all the turmoil. E. Howard Hunt kept on writing; heroic war stories, Cold War intrigue, political thrillers and even noir detective stories that were very popular with the public. Welcome to one of the most infamous and complex characters in all of American History. Meet the proligic author and spook extraordinaire –  E. Howard Hunt.

Born October 9, 1918 in Hamburg New York into a staunch Republican family, Hunt graduated high school and then enrolled in Brown University. Graduating from Brown in 1940 with a Bachelors in English and having aspirations of being a journalist, Hunt was restless and the beginning of the Second World War called him to adventure. His writing career would be put on hold for now.

Hunt enlisted into the US NAVY and secured an Ensign assignment on the USS Destroyer Mayo, scouting German U-boats that were harassing the Atlantic shipping lanes. Unfortunately, Hunt was injured on the icy deck and was offered either a supply job onshore or a medical discharge. With regrets he accepted the discharge to recuperate at his family’s home and mull his future. While at home Hunt channeled his repressed energies into writing his first novel, East of Farewell, a fictionalized story of convoy duty in the Atlantic.

To Hunt’s surprise his book was quickly published and the sold well. Still Hunt yearned for action in the war theater and when completely from his injuries, Hunt landed a wartime correspondent position with Look Magazine that took him to the Pacific theater. Again this assignment ended before Hunt would have liked and he soon found himself back in New York where he wrote his second novel. Not happy in New York, Hunt felt a strong need to serve his country and enlisted in the Army Air force as a private, a considerable step down from his Ensign position in the Navy. His assignment was far from war time action in “boring” Orlando. In Orlando, Hunt heard rumors of a new organization; The Office of Strategic Services being headed by the famed General Billy Donovan, Through his father’s political connections, Hunt soon came onboard the new organization and accepted a posting in China.  E. Howard Hunt’s new life as a “spook” had now begun.

Stationed in Shanghai, Hunt met an intelligent and beautiful CIA Employee, Dorothy Wetzel, who he married. Dorothy would die

The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler:

Annotated and edited by: Owen Hill,  Pamela Jackson and Anthony Dean Rizzuto. Foreword by Jonathan Lethem.

Review submitted by MW Taylor

I ordered the “Annotated version of Raymond Chandler’s – The Big Sleep” as a Christmas gift to myself and eagerly awaited it’s arrival like a Red Rider Carbine BB Gun. Upon delivery I felt ithe impressive weight (over five hundred pages), ran my fingers over the glossy cover depicting a 1930’s Los Angeles skyline fraught with mystery.  I truly believed my book showed promise of gravitas and illumination. Yet, always a pessimist, I still worried. How could cliff-notes and academic commentary add real substance to Chandler’s tale of illicit bookstores and murder? Once again, my fears were unfounded. I’m here to tell you brother, the annotated version from Vintage Press is an exhilerating deep dive into TBS and was well worth picking up!

To those unindoctrinated, TBS is no simple read, Chandler’s book meanders like a snake in a bed of white Petunias. Chandler defied the British mystery tradition by never being very concerned for coherent plots or tying loose ends. Instead his hard hitting style was derived (or distilled) from “pulp magazines” of the time. TBS begins straight-forward enough with Chandler’s detective, Phillip Marlowe being summoned by General Sternwood to “take care of” a blackmail attempt against his young and promiscuous daughter; Carmen Sternwood. Marlowe calls it a “lawyer’s job” but takes the job anyway for the promise of money and a concern for the crippled General in his waning days. Secretly, Marlowe is secretly intrigued by the second daughter, fiery Vivian Rutledge, whose Irish roughneck husband has vanished. What follows is a lush and confusing set of plots and sub-plots for which this expertly annotated version of TBS proves extremely useful in comprehending Chandler’s work. A most difficult job well done!

I took note of the annotator’s varied backgrounds which included crime literature, humanities, Los Angeles history, and all had a curious common connection with an antiquarian book store in Berkeley called Moes Books. Obviously no amateurs in this crime genre, I believe even Chandler would be pleased with their coherent layout of text and footnotes on the left while corresponding annotations are found on the facing page. Rising far above what is expected is the breadth of knowledge in critical areas of importance; Los Angeles societal commentary and generous helpings of delicious Chandler trivia. The citations to Chandler’s previous works are especially helpful given Chandler’s literary device of re-using plots and passages of previous work. The historical references to a 1930’s Los Angeles which no longer exists, Art Deco architecture and modest frame bungalows, small town nature and destructive influence of oil wealth. Who can remember Los Angeles as an oil boom town? Chandler certainly would, having worked for and been fired from the Dabney Oil company. Chandler’s insights undoubtedly lead to incisive commentary on the curse of easy oil wealth bestowed upon a family, the community or even the nation. The entire Sternwood family is cursed by easy wealth and referred to as “a family that bad things happen to” by police investigators mulling the death of the family chauffeur, Owen Taylor.

An unstated truth (or trope) in most detective fiction is every outward appearances is deceiving and whatever may appear to be simple or mundane, is surely not. That’s a fact when Marlowe’s simple blackmail job goes awry. Pornographer and book seller,  Arthur Geiger is murdered and his sordid ties to Carmen are revealed, Marlowe’s job gets harder and more dangerous when murders pile up, The police demand a “fall guy” and Marlowe scrambles to shield the Sternwood family from public notoriety.

Lastly, TBS is a book forever linked to a REALLY BIG MOVIE of the same name (that did not win an academy award or was even nominated). Howard Hawk’s blockbuster film adaptation of 1946 (post-war version) starring Humphrey Bogart as Phillip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge, both coming off a sizzling performances in “to Have Or Have Not.”  was acclaimed.The TBS annotaters provide context for Chandler’s feelings about the film, most of which he genuinely liked but would have preferred more of Martha Vickers, who played Carmen Sternweed. Chandler wrote: “the girl who played the nymph sister was so good she shattered Miss Bacall completely.”

Movie aside, The Annotated Big Sleep is well worth your time to first discover or re-discover Raymond Chandler’s most notorious work. I give this book my highest recommendation.