Poodle Springs

Robert B. Parker said that he started writing Spenser novels because he was a huge Phillip Marlowe fan and missed the detective after he’d read all the books and short stories. The Marlowe influence is all over the Spenser series, particularly the early books. So Parker was the natural pick to try a......more

My expectations for this book were so low that I hadn’t even necessarily intended to read it. The eighth and final novel in Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe detective series, the first four chapters were written in 1958 by Chandler before he died, and the last 37 chapters were written at the reque......more

Marlowe has married into money – or has he? Not content to be a “kept husband”, Marlowe sets up shop in the swanky California town of Poodle Springs, much to the displeasure of his new wife. It isn’t long until Marlowe is hired to track down a man who happens to owe his bookie a cool one hundred gra......more

Notice any difference between the first four chapters and the remaining 37 chapters of the book? It's well known that the first four were written by Raymond Chandler and the remaining 37, were written by author Robert B. Parker creator of the Spenser series which I've been reading for a few years. C......more

This little gem of a posthumous mystery with the classic man who will always be himself, Marlowe, was bittersweet -- maybe a bit more sweet -- Noir novel. At least, it was sweeter than one would expect out of one of these. Marlowe got married to a rich woman, you know. But that kind of life doesn't s......more