Poodle Springs

Philip Marlowe is alive and well and livig in Poodle Springs, California. He's married to a wealthy heiress now. But living in the lap of luxury hasn't made a dent in Marlowe's cynicism - or in his talent for attracting trouble. Soon he's on a trail of greed, lust, and murder as dark and cunning as any he's ever seen. Philip Marlowe is back in business.

Marlowe is back...and he's married to a rich, beautiful society lady who wants him to settle down in the posh desert community of Poodle Springs. Marlowe may have married rich, but old habits die hard: he's hired to recover a gambling debt and soon finds himself in a case involving bigamy, pornography and murder. The first four chapters of this final Marlowe mystery were written by noir master Raymond Chandler at the end of his life. Robert B. Parker was chosen by Chandler's estate to complete his last work, and the result is a true classic for Chandler aficionados and mystery fans alike.

Publishers Weekly

Detective Philip Marlowe's seventh caper takes place in Poodle Springs (read: Palm Springs) and in L.A., where a gambler has been framed for murder. ``Sustaining tensions, writing in tune with the period and delivering a knockout finale, Parker does nobly by the great Chandler,'' determined PW. (Nov.)

Nobody but Chandler could have created a private eye hero as cool as Philip Marlowe, but writers have been trying ever since the author's precedent-setting '40s crime novels were published. Along with Dashiell Hammett, Chandler is revered as a noir father figure; his creation of a romantic L.A. full of dangerous women and crooked characters is so woven into modern consciousness that it's easy to forget that it was fictional.