I don't remember it being any more over the top than early Chandler. I mean, here's a guy who recommended (paraphrasing here) that when you get stuck, send in a guy with a gun and who famously did not know who committed one of the murders in his own book.
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I believe that story to be apocryphal. In THE BIG SLEEP, both book and movie, it's quite clear that the Sternwood chauffeur who loved Carmen murdered Geiger and was in turn sapped by Joe Brodie for the film, and the car pushed over the pier.
Patrick King
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