Category: Philip Marlowe

EP1727: Philip Marlowe: The Pelican’s Roost

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is called in by a wealthy woman who is in danger from a former suitor.

Original Air Date: June 28, 1950

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EP1721: Philip Marlowe: The Uneasy Head

Gerald Mohr
When someone slips Marlowe a mickey while he’s waiting for a would-be client, he wants to find out why.

Original Air Date: June 6, 1950

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EP1715: Philip Marlowe: The Gold Cobra

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is hired to deliver a gold cobra statue to Chicago, but finds him caught in a web of lies and murder.

Original Air Date: June 21, 1950

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EP1709: Philip Marlowe: Face to Forget

Gerald Mohr
Marlowe boards a train to San Francisco in search of a woman’s missing boyfriend.

Original Air Date: June 14, 1950

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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715

EP1703: Philip Marlowe: The Bedside Manners

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is bed-ridden after breaking his leg but is hired to clear up a matter of a wealthy heiress’ brother being blackmailed by a man named fish.

Original Air Date: May 30, 1950

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EP1697: Philip Marlowe: The Fox’s Tail

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is called in when a witness in a civil trial commits suicide to help ensure the defense believes the witness is alive.

Original Air Date: May 23, 1950

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EP1691: Philip Marlowe: The Cloak of Kamehameha

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is sent to Hawaii to facilitate the sale of an all-feather cloak to find someone bordered his plane under Marlowe’s name.

Original Air Date: May 16, 1950

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EP1685: Philip Marlowe: The Hiding Place

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe reflects on the result of an investigation that forces him to tell a widow her son is dead.

Original Air Date: May 9, 1950

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Book Review: Black Eyed Blonde

In Black-Eyed Blonde, mystery writer John Banville writing under the pen name of Benjamin Black takes on the task of writing a new Philip Marlowe novel more than a half century after the passing of Marlowe’s legendary creator Raymond Chandler.

The plot is a well-done but typical hard-boiled story line. A strikingly beautiful woman walks into Marlowe’s office and hires him to find her boyfriend.  Marlowe finds out the boyfriend was killed, but the woman claims to have seen him in San Francisco after that.

Banville doesn’t come close to matching Chandler’s powerful prose and snappy dialogue. In many ways, while this Marlowe isn’t a pushover, he’s far more polite and measured than Chandler’s Marlowe ever was, certainly far softer than he was in The Long Goodbye which this book is set after. To be fair, I don’t think that’s entirely a bad point, given Marlowe was almost over the top in that.

However, what Banville does get right are the Chandleresque characters, these sort of quirky and engaging side characters that hold not only Marlowe’s attention but ours. The plot is a  solid and engaging piece of classic hard-boiled detective fiction until the last couple chapters,  which isn’t common in pastiches. I’ve read some of Robert Goldsborough’s Nero Wolfe novels and spent most of the books unable to get into the unsubstantial plots and have stewed over how unlike Nero Wolfe the story is.  In Black-Eyed Blonde, there were a couple minutes where I thought, “This isn’t really Philip Marlowe but whatever it is, it’s very good.”

However, the ending was a bit of a letdown. Without going into details, the book becomes, in many ways, a sequel to The Long Goodbye.  There’s no need for a sequel to The Long  Goodbye, and the ending of this book doesn’t add luster to that classic tale.  Too often pastiche writers assume we want sequels and follow ups to previous stories. With Marlowe, what I want are new standalone mysteries that measure up to what’s come before.  Unlike Nero Wolfe, Marlowe was never a character whose existence depended on a regular cast or continuity.  And to be fair, this element  only looms in the end of the book. Still, I would have preferred a conclusion that made the book standalone rather than on the shoulder’s of a predecessor.

Overall, if you like classic hard-boiled novels, you’ll enjoy this book provided you’re not turned off by it’s attempt to make itself a sequel to one of the most beloved hard-boiled novels.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

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EP1679: Philip Marlowe: The Sea Horse Jockey

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is called to deliver a jeweled sea horse for sale.

Original Air Date: May 2, 1950

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EP1673: Philip Marlowe: The High-Collared Cape

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is called in by a ballerina to help out a troubled ballet director.

Original Air Date: April 25, 1950

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EP1667: Philip Marlowe: The Angry Eagle

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is called by a fight manager to keep his fighter from getting into trouble.

Original Air Date:April 18, 1950
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EP1661: Philip Marlowe: The Anniversary Gift

William Conrad

Marlowe is sent by widower in search of his late wife’s watch and finds it’s tied up in a murder case and his client may be as well.

Original Air Date: April 11, 1950

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EP1655: Philip Marlowe: The Man on the Roof

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is hired by a woman to save her son from a dangerous set-up.

Original Air Date: April 4, 1950

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EP1649: Philip Marlowe: The Sword of Cebu

Gerald Mohr

Marlowe is hired to find a sword over which his client’s partner was killed.

Original Air Date: March 28, 1950

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