Expanded vocabulary from reading this classic noir detective novel:

loogan: a man with a gun

squibbed off: killed

lammed out: ran away

frail: woman

leery: risky

peeper: private detective

Useful phrases and wisecracks:

“Shake your business up and pour it. I haven’t got all day.”

“Hold me close, you beast.” Actually, that one came from an inept seductress in chapter twenty-three, and I thought it was one of the funniest lines in the book. I can’t imagine anyone putting that line over with a straight face.

“His story had the austere simplicity of fiction rather than the tangled woof of fact. I’d like to find someplace to use that bit of discernment.

“Did you know that worms are of both sexes and that any worm can love any other worm?” Now there’s a conversation stopper.

Has anyone seen the movie version of this book with Bogie and Bacall? Recommended or not?