Author(s): Lawrence Osborne

Crime

Lionel Shriver:

"I recommend all of Lawrence Osborne’s novels, especially for fans of Graham Greene or Paul Bowles. Smart and scathing, he’s a natural storyteller with a seductive prose style. I’ve pushed Osborne’s novels on dozens of people. Even in person, the guy doesn’t disappoint: six-foot-and-then-some, world-weary but winsome, he's a drinker and raconteur who’s classically larger than life. Alas, they don’t make them this way anymore."

Wealthy dead American. Beautiful young widow. This case has PI Philip Marlowe's name written all over it. Is it enough to bring him back for one last adventure?

The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. Private Investigator Philip Marlowe - now in his seventy-second year - has been living out his retirement in the terrace bar of the La Fonda hotel. Sipping margaritas, playing cards, his silver-tipped cane at the ready. When in saunter two men dressed like undertakers. With a case that has his name written all over it.

At last Marlowe is back where he belongs. His mission is to investigate Donald Zinn - supposedly drowned off his yacht, leaving a much younger and now very rich wife. Marlowe's speciality. But is Zinn actually alive? Are the pair living off the spoils?

Set between the border and badlands of Mexico and California, Lawrence Osborne's resurrection of the iconic Marlowe is an unforgettable addition to the Raymond Chandler canon.


Discover the rest of the inimitable Philip Marlowe series - nine classic Chandler adventures, from The Big Sleep to The Long Goodbye, available now in paperback and ebook from Penguin Books.