Private detective Phil Marlow is invited by a wealthy businessman who has just received a note of ransom, anonymous one. His two youthful, sleazy daughters are involved and the wealthy old man cannot approach the police. The old man is suffering from a poor heart, he wheels his way around the home, is affectionate towards his son-in-law who apparently is absconding for some reason. His older daughter thinks she is clever, with her shiny white legs, supple ankles, gorgeous figure and slender waist, attempts to seduce Marlow, the detective. Younger daughter has a boyfriend who finds her posing naked for a book shop owner Geiger and shoots him. The shop owner’s secretary has a notorious boy friend, Brody, who happens to be hiding behind the bushes at the time of the murder; Brody escapes with the naked pictures of younger daughter who stays on dope for the whole night.
The wealthy old man’s chauffer is found dead, the car is found in Pacific Ocean. Owen Taylor, younger daughter’s boyfriend must have committed the murder. Carol, a student working part time at the book store finds the secretary and boyfriend making mileage out of the owner’s death before it became public. Offended, disconcerted, he pulls the trigger on Brody. Protagonist, Phil Marrow solves seemingly two different cases, deaths of two people in two different locations at different times, and connects them over a style of investigation that we have come to expect of Hollywood today.
Raymond Chandler was the pioneer of this style; it was he, who invented clever little phrases and turned men of uniform into something of witty, clever and sharp men who operated with style, grace and charisma.
This is not all. The plot twists and twirls over and over again. Novel is narrated in first person’s perspective, by the detective himself. He narrates the surroundings vividly, individuals’ features and their reactions fanatically- she leapt up, her dark pupils peeping through the blue iris-; novel is written like a script for a movie. Detective would mutter something about his keeping the door unlocked for clients who wished to wait until he got home. “And, today, I have a client”, the chapter would end with those words.
The book is complexly interwoven, is not meant for a light read. But guarantees thrilling investigations and startling revelations
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