Poodle Springs

Description

Newly married to a wealthy heiress, hard-boiled private investigator Philip Marlowe settles into the affluent California enclave of Poodle Springs—but domestic comfort cannot keep him away from trouble. When a local gambling figure hires him to find a man who has vanished while owing a substantial debt, Marlowe uncovers a tangled case involving murder, blackmail, pornography, and bigamy. Set against the polished surface of a wealthy desert community, the novel explores Marlowe’s uneasy struggle between independence and married life while delivering the sharp investigations and cynical atmosphere associated with classic noir. Left unfinished at the time of its originator’s death and completed decades later, it offers a distinctive meeting of two generations of hard-boiled detective fiction.