The oft-quoted remark from Raymond Chandler with regard to the Big Sleep that even he himself 'never figured out what was going on' should not be taken too seriously. It comes from a telegram he sent to Howard Hawks, the director of the 1946 film of the book, when requested to provide the identity of Owen Taylor's killer (see the section on Language and Structure), and owes much to Chandler's unwillingness - perhaps out of jealousy - to help out screenwriter William Faulkner. However, the plot of the Big Sleep is notoriously convoluted, and demands a certain amount of attention from the reader. The effect of leaving the reader at times confused is no doubt intentional. Chandler is treating us to the experience of a detective attempting to plough through a mass of facts to get a handle on the truth that remains obscure throughout. However, unlike some other mystery writers, Chandler does provide the reader with enough information to make the necessary connections when Marlowe finally uncovers the full picture. After all, the first person narrative ensures that we are in possession of all the information Marlowe has - we are with him in every waking moment throughout the five days over which the story takes place. Chandler is also making a conscious effort to maintain a certain verisimilitude about proceedings: unlike the convenient three-act structure and neat conclusions of screenplays that Chandler was later to work on, life tends to be complicated and leaves loose ends. He acknowledges as much in the book itself, as Marlowe considers the truth (or otherwise) of an explanation given to him: "It seemed a little too pat. It had the austere simplicity of fiction rather than the tangled woof of fact."
Because of the plot's complexity, it is worth examining here in some detail. [Note that new characters appear in bold the first time their names are mentioned.] The Big Sleep opens as Philip Marlowe is arriving at the Sternwood residence: "I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars." This fortune, it seems, comes from oil. Marlowe is let in by Norris, the butler, and he immediately encounters Carmen Sternwood, the youngest daughter of General Sternwood. Carmen makes a lot of effort to flirt with Marlowe, until he is called to the greenhouse see the General. The General is "an old and obviously dying man", confined to a wheelchair. It transpires that the District Attorney's chief investigator Bernie Ohls, who Marlowe used to work with, has called him and told him the General wished to see him. Says Marlowe: "I'm told you are a widower and have two young daughters... One of them has been married three times, the last time to an ex-bootlegger... Rusty Regan." The General confesses his fondness for Regan who has disappeared, about a month ago: "He was the breath of life to me..." but also with regard to his daughter that "it was a ridiculous marriage... and it probably didn't last a month, as a marriage." The General then confesses that he is being blackmailed - again. A few months previously he had paid a man named Joe Brody ("some sort of gambler") five thousand dollars to "let Carmen alone". The General is now being blackmailed to the tune of a thousand dollars by an Arthur Gwynn Geiger, a rare books dealer. The blackmail is ambiguous and purports to relate to gambling debts. The General does not know who Geiger is, and claims he refuses to pay this relatively small sum out of pride. It is clear that whilst the older daughter has some money, Carmen is still a minor under the terms of her mother's will, so has no independent access to any funds. For "twenty- five a day and expenses" Marlowe promises to get Geiger off the General's back. Marlowe is leaving when the older daughter, Vivian Regan, asks to see him. They discuss Rusty Regan. She is under the impression that the General has hired Marlowe to find Regan. Marlowe is tight-lipped.
Suspecting there is a lot more to the case than simple blackmail for such a petty amount, Marlowe pays a visit to Geiger's bookshop. He is suspicious of the woman at the counter who "knew as much about rare books as I know about handling a flea circus." A man enters and goes into the back room. He emerges with a parcel, and leaves. Marlowe follows him, and the man ditches the parcel, which Marlowe recovers in some cypress trees. Marlowe obtains a description of Geiger from the store opposite his, and then opens the parcel. The parcel is a book of illicit pornography - "photos and letterpress were alike of an indescribably filth." Geiger clearly runs a "lending library of elaborate smut."
Marlowe stakes out Geiger's store until he turns up accompanied by a "very good- looking kid". Marlowe follows the car to Geiger's house where he sees a white flash and hears a scream. He goes to the front door and hears three gunshots, then one, maybe two cars pulling away. He effects entry and finds Carmen sat drugged and naked in a chair, and Geiger dead on the floor. He then finds a camera - its flash spent, and the plateholder and negative missing - and a blue indexed notebook with what appears to be Geiger's client list in, but in code. Marlowe drives Carmen - alternative between flirting and semi- consciousness - home in her car, and Vivian's maid looks after her. Marlowe walks back to Geiger's house, and finds that the body is missing. He goes to his own apartment and spends the night drinking and failing to crack to code in Geiger's book.
The next morning there is no mention of Geiger in the paper. Bernie Ohls calls with news that one of the Sternwood's Buicks "is washing about in the surf off Lido fish pier... there's a guy inside it." Marlowe initially thinks it's Regan, but it is in fact Owen Taylor, the Sternwood's chauffeur. Taylor has been "sapped" (hit on the face, possibly with a gun) and the car's "hand throttle" fixed half way down, suggesting foul play rather than suicide or an accident. It also emerges that Taylor has something of a coloured history: a year before, he ran Carmen off to Yuma. Vivian retrieved the errant couple and persuaded the District Attorney not to prosecute him, as he had meant to marry Carmen but she didn't want to. The police released Taylor, and he returned to work for the Sternwoods. It further turns out that Taylor had a prior back in Indiana for an attempted hold-up six years previously.
Marlowe returns to Geiger's store to find a truck being loaded up with boxes of books. He follows the truck to an apartment occupied by Joe Brody. Marlowe then goes to his office, to find Vivian waiting for him. Regan is mentioned in passing, and they discuss Carmen and Taylor. Vivian produces a nude picture of Carmen that has been sent to her. She is being blackmailed for five thousand dollars - "A woman telephoned me, about half an hour after this thing was delivered... The woman said there was a police jam connected with it and I'd better lay it on the line fast, or I'd be talking to my little sister through a wire screen." Vivian refuses to go to the police or tell her father, but says she can get five grand off Eddie Mars, a racketeer who runs an illegal casino at Las Olindas. It also transpires that Eddie Mars' wife ran off with Rusty Regan. Marlowe asks if she thinks Regan is involved in the blackmail. But according to Vivian, "Rusty was no crook. If he had been, it wouldn't have been for nickels. He carried fifteen thousand dollars, in bills... He had it when I married him and he had it when he left me. No - Rusty's not in on any cheap blackmail racket."
Marlowe goes back to Geiger's house and finds Carmen there. She says that Joe Brody killed Geiger. A man turns up at the house. It is Eddie Mars. Carmen runs off. Mars warns Marlowe not to mess with him, and explains that Geiger was his tenant. As Marlowe leaves, he taunts Mars about his wife and Regan.
Marlowe goes to Brody's apartment. Brody at first plays dumb, but then threatens Marlowe with a gun. Marlowe is unfazed - "Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains." The woman from the shop - Agnes - is also there. Marlowe lets on that he has Geiger's book, and makes out that he wants to do some sort of deal. Marlowe accuses Brody of shooting Gieger. Brody denies it. Marlowe says that if Brody hands over the negative and any prints of Carmen, he might be able to persuade Carmen not to say anything about the 'fact' that she say Brody shoot Geiger. Brody complies, and then Carmen turns up. She threatens Brody with a gun and demands her photos. There is a scuffle, with Marlowe ending up in control of the situation. He takes Carmen's gun, refuses to give her the photos, and sends her packing. Marlowe then accuses Brody of the murder of Owen Taylor, which he denies. Marlowe has figured out that, disliking what he was up to with Carmen, Taylor shot Geiger, and then ran off with the negative. Brody was trying to move in on Geiger's racket and was staking out the house. After the shooting, Brody chased after Taylor, sapped him, and took the negative. Brody still denies the murder of Taylor. The door buzzer goes again, and answering it, Brody is shot at close range. The shooter runs off, Marlowe in hot pursuit. He catches him - it is the good-looking kid from Geiger's store - Carol Lundgren - and Marlowe deduces he was also Geiger's homosexual lover who, thinking Brody shot Geiger, was out for revenge: "You must have thought a lot of that queen."
Marlowe takes Lundgren back to Geiger's house where Marlowe finds Geiger's body has returned. Lundgren moved the body to give him time to clear his things out of Geiger's house so the police wouldn't find out about their relationship. Marlowe phones Ohls, and they take Lundgren to the D.A. A cop, Captain Cronjager is also there, and Marlowe is in trouble for not informing the police about Geiger's corpse, which inadvertently led to the death of Brody. The men go over what is known so far. Marlowe holds back on the fact that Carmen visited Brody's apartment, and Mars visited Geiger's house. Marlowe doesn't think Brody killed Taylor - he was just in it for the racket. Marlowe shows the pornographic book, but threatening to blow the lid on the fact that the cops probably knew about the racket, persuades them to keep the blackmail angle under wraps for the sake of the General. Again, Regan is mentioned, the D.A. supposing that the General wanted to find out if he was involved in the blackmail.
Marlowe goes back to his apartment building. After sending a threatening heavy, Mars telephones and tells Marlowe to leave him out of it. Marlowe says he already has. Marlowe then phones the Sternwoods and leaves a message for Vivian to say that everything is sorted out. The next morning a hushed-up version of events appears in the paper - with no mention of the Sternwoods, Ohls or Marlowe. Cronjager gets all the credit, and Taylor is written off as a suicide. Marlowe pays a visit to Captain Gregory at the Missing Person's Bureau. Gregory has surmised Regan has run off with Mars' wife, and that he'll turn up sooner or later - it isn't a high priority case. He has also discounted the idea that Mars might have bumped Regan off for fooling around with his wife. As Marlowe leaves he notices a grey Plymouth sedan tailing him.
Back at the office, the butler Norris phones saying the matter is closed, Marlowe is to destroy the photos, and he will be sent a cheque for five hundred dollars. Rather than let the matter rest, Marlowe goes to see Mars at his casino in Las Olindas. Mars denies he has killed Regan (despite seeming very relaxed about the fact that he has been cuckolded by him), but admits he knew about Geiger's racket. (Perhaps those cypress trees were a clue to this fact). Mars tells Geiger that Vivian is trouble, and doesn't know anything about Marlowe being followed. Marlowe goes into the Casino, where Vivian is at the roulette wheel. The table can't cover her sixteen thousand dollar bet. She makes a fuss and Mars agrees to cover the bet for a final spin. Vivian wins and goes to cash her winnings. Marlowe has gone to wait outside, where he sees a man attempt to hold up Vivian. He goes to the rescue, and as her escort is drunk, agrees to drive her home. Marlowe puts it to Vivian that Mars has something on her, and that the hold-up with the money was staged. The pair kiss, but then the moment is broken when Marlowe again enquires about Mars.
After taking Regan home, Marlowe goes back to his apartment, where he finds Carmen naked in his bed. She comes on to him, but he rejects her, which she takes very badly. The next morning, Marlowe again sees the grey Plymouth. He confronts the driver - Harry Jones - who comes up to Marlowe's office. Jones claims to have information, via Agnes, as to the whereabouts of Mars' wife Mona. He also believes that Mars killed Regan. Jones wants two hundred dollars for the information. Marlowe agrees to pay, and will meet Jones later with the money, when Jones will take Marlowe to Agnes. When Marlowe goes to meet Jones he finds that Mars' hitman Lash Canino has got their first. Canino is clearly a nasty piece of work - even by his bosses' standards. As Marlowe later observes, he would "beat my teeth out and then kick me in the stomach for mumbling." Marlowe eavesdrops on the conversation. Canino threatens the location of Agnes out of Jones, and then makes him down a poisoned drink. Marlowe discovers the address given by Jones was a false one, but Agnes rings the office, and agrees to meet Marlowe.
Marlowe is told that Mona is in a house by "a small garage and paint-shop" out past Realito. Marlowe drives to investigate, where "fate stage-managed the whole thing" as he gets two blowouts near the garage. Taking one of the two guns from a hidden compartment in his car, he goes into the garage where he is met by Canino. Marlowe is beaten unconscious, and tied up in the house behind the garage. When he comes-to Mona Mars is there. She tells him that Eddie Mars didn't kill Regan, but she is being hidden there so that the cops don't think he did. She takes pity on Marlowe, kisses him, and frees him. Marlowe goes back to his car, gets the other gun, and attracts Canino's reaction (he has returned to the house) by starting Canino's car. Canino shoots at the car, and then comes out of the house where Marlowe shoots him dead.
The next day and Marlowe is being ticked off by the cops - again - but it seems he's going to be let off for killing Canino. Marlowe goes to the Sternwood, where the General seems annoyed that he has tried to find Regan, but then says he'd pay him "another thousand dollars to find Rusty." Marlowe then encounters Carmen, and gives her back her gun. She asks Marlowe to teach her how to shoot, and they take a drive to a secluded spot by an old oil-sump. She tries to shoot Marlowe, but he has loaded the gun with blanks. She has a fit and passes out, and he drives her back home where he calls on Vivian, and reveals how "it all ties together":
"Geiger got his hooks into your sister... and tried to blackmail your father... in a nice way. Eddie Mars was behind Geiger, protecting him and using him for a cat's-paw. Your father sent for me instead of paying up, which showed he wasn't scared about anything. Eddie Mars wanted to know that. He had something on you and he wanted to know if he had it on the General too. If he had, he could collect a lot of money in a hurry. If not, he would have to wait until you got your share of the family fortune, and in the meantime be satisfied with whatever spare cash he could take away from you across the roulette table. Geiger was killed by Owen Taylor, who was in love with your silly little sister and didn't like the kind of games Geiger played with her. That didn't mean anything to Eddie. He was playing a deeper game than Geiger knew anything about, or than Brody knew anything about, or anybody except you and Eddie and a tough guy named Canino. Your husband disappeared and Eddie, knowing everybody knew there had been bad blood between him and Regan, hid his wife out at Realito and put Canino to guard her, so that it would look as if she had run away with Regan."
And why else would Eddie do this? Because "He had another motive. He was playing for a million or so. He knew where Regan had gone and why he didn't want the police to have to find out. He wanted them to have an explanation of the disappearance that would keep them satisfied." The reason no one can find Regan is that he's dead - shot by Carmen when he rejected her. Vivian went to Eddie Mars for help - which is what he has on her. "I knew Eddie Mars would bleed me white, but I didn't care," says Vivian. "I had to have help and I could only get it from somebody like him."
Vivian offers Marlowe fifteen thousand dollars to keep quiet. ("What Mr Canino got for disposing of the body when you went to Eddie Mars for help.") Marlowe rejects the offer, but instructs Vivian to take Carmen away - "Somewhere far from here where they can handle her type... Hell, she might even get herself cured, you know. It's been done."
"Part of the nastiness now", Marlowe walks out of the Sternwood, and his last thought as the novel closes is of Mona Mars.