“Chandler & West” released

Cover of "Chandler & West: A Los Angeles Story"

The day has arrived—my new novel Chandler & West: A Story of Los Angeles is now available.

As I’ve written previously, this is a passion project, a novel about two writers I’ve read and admired and studied for years now. My book centers on a fictional meeting of hard-boiled writer Raymond Chandler, banging out the manuscript to his debut The Big Sleep, and Nathanael West, himself working on his opus The Day of the Locust.

Chandler & West is also a love letter to Los Angeles, especially the L.A. during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Pre-release sales have been better than expected. They’re so good, yesterday I noticed the book sitting at #37 on Amazon’s U.S. Biographical Literary Fiction best sellers chart:

Screenshot of "Chandler & West" at #37 on Amazon's Biographical Literary Fiction bestseller chart.

The Kindle edition is available at a special limited-time price of $2.99, which will go up later this month. A paperback edition is also available. And, Kindle Unlimited subscribers may read it for free.

You can learn more about the novel on Amazon, or by reading its page here on my web site. There’s a sample chapter available as well.

Exciting times—this book took quite a while to finish, and I’m relieved to finally have it out there.

“Chandler & West” pre-order now available

Front and back covers of "Chandler & West: A Story of Los Angeles" by Jim Nelson

It’s here—the Kindle and paperback editions of my latest novel, Chandler & West: A Story of Los Angeles, may now be reserved on Amazon.

The Kindle edition is available at a special limited-time price of $2.99, which will go up after the book has been released. If you order now, it will appear on your Kindle reader the day of its release (February 9th, 2026).

This is my latest passion project, a novel about two writers I’ve read and studied for many years now. It centers on a fictional meeting of hard-boiled writer Raymond Chandler, banging out the manuscript to his debut The Big Sleep, and Nathanael West, himself working on his own magnum opus The Day of the Locust. Together, they scour the landscape of Los Angeles, 1939, which was a rich and dynamic time in the history of the city.

You can learn more about the novel on Amazon, or by reading its page here on my web site. There’s a sample chapter available for reading as well.

Kindle edition of "Chandler & West: A Story of Los Angeles"

Take a peek at a proof copy of “Chandler & West”

Some exciting news—here’s the proof copy of the paperback for Chandler & West, my upcoming novel.

If you haven’t been following along, Chandler & West is a new novel about two of Los Angeles’ greatest writers—Raymond Chandler and Nathanael West—and set in 1939 Hollywood.

More details here, and a sample chapter to read.

Keep checking back, I’ll be announcing the final release date shortly.