Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe returns in award-winning author John Banville's Marlowe--originally published as The Black-Eyed Blonde under the pen name Benjamin Black--the basis for the major motion picture starring Liam Neeson as the iconic detective.

Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe returns in award-winning author John Banville's Marlowe--originally published as The Black-Eyed Blonde under the pen name Benjamin Black--the basis for the major motion picture starring Liam Neeson as the iconic detective.

"Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling . . . I loved this book. It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room."

--Stephen King

"* It was one of those Tuesday afternoons in summer when you wonder if the earth has stopped revolving.*"

The streets of Bay City, California, in the early 1950s are as mean as they get. Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and the private eye business is a little slow. Then a new client is shown in: blond, beautiful, and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover.

Almost immediately, Marlowe discovers that the man's disappearance is merely the first in a series of bewildering events. Soon he is tangling with one of Bay City's richest and most ruthless families--and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune.

"It's vintage L.A., toots: The hot summer, rain on the asphalt, the woman with the lipstick, cigarette ash and alienation, V8 coupes, tough guys, snub-nosed pistols, the ice melting in the bourbon . . . . The results are Chandleresque, sure, but you can see Banville's sense of fun."

--* The Washington Post*