Marlowe palaa kaupunkiin (1989)

completion of last Marlowe book. Parker is no Chandler, doesn't seem to grasp essence of character

"I told you, you looked happy together. I'm a sucker for happy together." (pg. 232)

I wrote, after reading Playback, Raymond Chandler's final novel, that I was going to miss Marlowe's voice on the page. He was an excellent character, both interacting in the world he inhabited and in confiding to the reader through the prose. He had layers and principles and he knew in some corner of his mind that he had them, and that they bound him in certain ways, and when they did he would not fight them but would take his lumps. He was shopworn but stoically so, the sort of cross-bearing, masculine hero that every down-on-his-luck guy imagines himself to be but few are willing to really commit to. So I was reluctant to see him go, having finished all seven of Chandler's novels about the detective. Little did I know that Robert B. Parker would be able to resurrect the dead, and provide Marlowe with the ending he deserved.

I was curious about Poodle Springs, which is based on four chapters Chandler had completed before his death and spun into a full novel by Parker (commissioned by Chandler's estate). I was confident that Parker would do well (although I haven't yet read any of his crime fiction, his Western Appaloosa is one of my favourites), but projects of this sort rarely match up to what came before. I was sceptical about an ersatz Marlowe.

But Parker nails it. Not long after Chandler's four short chapters end and Parker's thirty-seven begin, I stopped looking for the joins. Though he does recycle a few motifs over again, Parker gets it all right. The plot is coherent and, on his stage, Marlowe in his detective work behaves just as Chandler wrote him. The characters and dialogue are excellent (though Parker can't drop a simile like Chandler could). He's got Marlowe's voice and inner monologue in all its cadences, and it is unexpected and engrossing. Soon, I wasn't reading a Chandler book or a Parker book. I was reading a Philip Marlowe book.

And it is not just an effective imitation. Parker takes the bold opportunity to really dig into the character. Whilst still being Marlowe, Parker peels back some of those layers. Marlowe here – as Chandler begins to write in the first four chapters – is chafing at his new married life in a posh area of California. He is sensitive about his legitimacy, reluctant to trade on the connections of his new father-in-law. It initially appears a little insecure for him to reject this new life but, as I mentioned before, he has his principles and he will take his lumps. "The way I keep from being a failure is to be free. To be my absolute own man… I'll decide what I'll do. I won't be bought, or pushed, not even by love. You're a success if you have money, but you give up too much." (pg. 197). Marlowe is brittle and yet secure; his is a vulnerable and yet indomitable masculinity. He is a piece of meat that can get tenderized by the punches, as if he knows the only way to keep it all strong is to lay it all out there and risk it. With his new marriage, he is finally having to stick or twist. Parker is bringing the Marlowe stage performance to a fitting coda.

Some purists won't like it, will feel that you should not mess with the dead. But what is Marlowe if not the sort of guy who will turn up a dead body and, with a sigh, ring up the police even though they'll finger him for the murder? "I could just have someone come in…" his rich wife says on page 31, casting her eye over his shabby PI office. "This is what I can afford," he replies, and it does just fine. Marlowe is back – making do, with some small pride. Chandler and Parker go happy together, and I'm a sucker for happy together. ( )

Robert Parker finishes an unfinished novel of Raymond Chandler. Someone should have stopped him ( )

mystery — started by Raymond Chandler finished By Robert Parket
Lightweight — mystery set in LA + Palm Springs — current day — strange rich people

Philip Marlowe marries a rich, beautiful society lady who wants him to settle down. But old habits die hard, and Marlowe soon is back in business, enmeshed in a case involving pornography, bigamy, and murder.

Chandler's contribution consists of a few short chapters; Parker picks it up and makes it into a seamless whole. ( )