Editing Raymond Chandler (section)

===Later life and death===
Cissy Chandler died in 1954, after a long illness. Heartbroken and drunk, Chandler neglected to inter her cremated remains, and they sat for 57 years in a storage locker in the basement of Cypress View Mausoleum. When he died he was remembered as, "the author of “''The Big Sleep'',” and other mystery novels."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Monteagudo |first=Merrie |date=2019-03-26 |title=60 years ago: Raymond Chandler dies in La Jolla |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2019/03/26/60-years-ago-raymond-chandler-dies-in-la-jolla/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

After Cissy's death, Chandler's loneliness worsened his propensity for [[Major depressive disorder|clinical depression]]; he returned to drinking alcohol, never quitting it for long, and the quality and quantity of his writing suffered.<ref name="nyrb-12-06-2007" /> In 1955, he attempted suicide. In ''The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved'', Judith Freeman says it was "a cry for help," given that he called the police beforehand, saying he planned to kill himself. Chandler's personal and professional life were both helped and complicated by the women to whom he was attracted, notably Helga Greene (his literary agent), Jean Fracasse (his secretary), [[Sonia Orwell]] ([[George Orwell]]'s widow), and [[Natasha Spender]] ([[Stephen Spender]]'s wife). Chandler regained his U.S. citizenship in 1956, while retaining his British rights.

After a respite in England, he returned to La Jolla. He died at Scripps Memorial Hospital of pneumonial peripheral vascular shock and prerenal uremia (according to the death certificate) in 1959. Helga Greene inherited Chandler's $60,000 estate, after prevailing in a 1960 lawsuit filed by Fracasse contesting Chandler's [[Holographic will|holographic]] [[codicil (will)|codicil]] to his will.

Chandler is buried at [[Mount Hope Cemetery (San Diego)|Mount Hope Cemetery]], in San Diego, California. As Frank MacShane noted in his biography, ''The Life of Raymond Chandler'', Chandler wished to be cremated and placed next to Cissy in Cypress View Mausoleum.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Italie |first=Hillel |date=December 11, 2023 |title=Rare Raymond Chandler poem is a tribute to his late wife, with a surprising twist |url=https://apnews.com/article/raymond-chandler-poem-wife-requiem-9fdefbb098e7e3e59602fb4c0c1c264f |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> Instead, he was buried in Mount Hope, because he had left no funeral or burial instructions.{{sfn|Hiney|1999|p=275–276}}
[[File:Raymond Chandler gravestone.jpg|thumb|Raymond and Cissy Chandler's tombstone]]
In 2010, Chandler historian Loren Latker, with the assistance of attorney Aissa Wayne (daughter of [[John Wayne]]), brought a petition to disinter Cissy's remains and reinter them with Chandler in Mount Hope. After a hearing in September 2010 in [[California superior courts|San Diego Superior Court]], Judge Richard S. Whitney entered an order granting Latker's request.<ref>Bell, Diane (September 8, 2010).  [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/sep/08/ashes-chandlers-wife-join-him-eternity/ "Ashes of Chandler's wife to join him for eternity"]. SignOnSanDiego.com. Retrieved 2011-11-26.</ref>

On February 14, 2011, Cissy's ashes were conveyed from Cypress View to Mount Hope and interred under a new grave marker above Chandler's, as they had wished.<ref>Bell, Diane (February 14, 2011). [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/14/philip-marlowe-appears-at-raymond-chandler/ "Raymond Chandler and His Wife, Cissy, Are Finally Reunited"]. SignOnSanDiego.com.  Retrieved 2011-11-26.</ref> About 100 people attended the ceremony, which included readings by the Rev. Randal Gardner, [[Powers Boothe]], Judith Freeman and Aissa Wayne. The shared gravestone reads, "Dead men are heavier than broken hearts", a quotation from ''The Big Sleep''. Chandler's original gravestone, placed by Jean Fracasse and her children, is still at the head of his grave; the new one is at the foot.