The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Philip Marlowe Novel

If you have enjoyed Raymond Chandler’s novels featuring Philip Marlowe, you are in for a treat with this book, as Benjamin Black captures his dialogue, world-weary feelings and the atmosphere of early 1950s Los Angeles in this brilliant recreation. Using a title that Chandler had noted as a possible novel, Black has brought Marlowe to life and linked him to characters and plots that appeared in previous Chandler novels. The whole package makes for a fully charged mystery as Clare Cavendish, the blonde of the title, hires Marlowe to trace her former boyfriend. The twists and turns of the ensuing investigation make this a very worthy and exciting success at Philip Marlowe’s return.

Hmm. Two points about sequels to classic novels, whether sanctioned or not, from my personal and rather hypocritical experiences (I can't stop reading them!) One, authors with distinctive narrative voices (and devoted fanbases) should really be avoided, by everyone. Austen, Chandler, Wodehouse - these authors will never be bettered, and rarely equalled, especially by 'honouring' them with a sequel. Two, if imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, at least try and bring something new to the party! Mimicking style is one thing, but duplicating the plot is quite another.

I re-read The Long Goodbye before braving Benjamin Black's sequel, but I think relying on a vague memory would have been wiser. Black - Irish writer John show more Banville - has a fair crack at Chandler, bar the occasional anachronism/Britishism and flowery metaphor. What bothered me more, ironically, was how close he stuck to the original text. I suspect he read synopses of the first five Marlowe novels, before cribbing the ever-living daylights out of The Long Goodbye. The plot of The Black-Eyed Blonde is virtually identical, down to actually borrowing characters from the source material. I'm just not sure what the point of the whole exercise was - not providing Chandler's readers with a new story, that's for sure. When Marlowe kisses said blonde with dark eyes (I suspect Chandler's title would have had a more violent connotation), the clinch is almost Chandler word for word ('She didn't resist, but she didn't respond either'). The references and in-jokes are easy to spot, but Black is seemingly unable to maintain Marlowe's voice without borrowing phrases from Chandler. As one character remarks to photocopy-Phil, 'You obviously haven't put your heart into it so far'.

Successful spin-offs either focus on a new story while honouring the spirit of the original, or style the whole sequel as a fondly penned pastiche. Black is sort of a literary J.J. Abrams, mistaking cut and paste for homage. Don't read the two novels back to back. show less

The Irish mystery writer John Banville, under the nom de plume of Benjamin Black, has brilliantly conjured the spirit of Raymond Chandler in "The Black-Eyed Blonde: a Philip Marlowe Novel". The reader who enjoys the classic works of Chandler, such as "Farewell, My Lovely", is sure to take a similar pleasure in this homage to Chandler.

The time setting of the novel has been moved forward by about a decade, into the early 1950's. There are references to television, the young Queen Elizabeth II, and Liberace, but otherwise the milieu of Southern California in the age of film noir will be familiar to readers of Chandler.

The plot is not quite as convoluted as in the typical Chandler novel, but it does get twisty nearer the end. But, as with show more Chandler, plot is secondary to character, dialogue, scene description and mood.

Philip Marlowe remains the iconic private detective of pulp fiction. He has a code of honor to which he remains faithful, despite the sordid situations in which he gets involved. He is on the side of right, but he has an uneasy relationship with law enforcement. The cops are portrayed as often dull-witted and mean-spirited, but more often as well-meaning clods who resent Marlowe's independence.

Marlowe's nature is solitary, if not lonely. He has no sidekick, no family we know of, no close friends. He plays chess by himself. He is capable of love, but apparently is incapable of committing to a relationship.

And he smokes and drinks almost constantly. That is consistent with the times, especially the smoking. And, this being a Marlowe novel, he is beaten senseless and later drugged into unconsciousness- and does not seek medical care after either incident. Marlowe is a tough guy, leaving the readers to cringe on his behalf.

Raymond Chandler's death in 1959 seemed to be the end of Philip Marlowe in the literary world, but "Benjamin Black" has brought him back to life in all his quirky glory. "The Black-Eyed Blonde" deserves a place on the shelf next to "The Big Sleep" and "The High Window". show less

Wow- what a terrific read. Written in the voice of Raymond Chandler, it is a new Philip Marlow mystery novel. I'll be honest, I have always found Raymond Chandler to be overrated by a longshot, and frankly Benjamin Black (who is actually John Banville), has managed to take all the best parts of Chandler's style and drop a lot of the dross, like the characters needing to fix a drink every two paragraphs and some other literary fillers. The writing style mirrors Chandler's with great skill- in fact he carries a tune so much better and more smoothly than Chandler that I don't know if I can go back to the original. It's also not as offensive as Chandler- not nearly the misogyny, racism and homophobia. Some people may find this horribly PC show more of me, but it shows that you don't need that junk to be a good writer in this genre. At the same time, the character sketches are priceless: "Bernie wore the regulation suit of dark blue flannel, no hat, and those black shoes they must make specially for cops, as broad as boats and with rim of sole about half an inch wide all around. He makes lots of noise, Bernie, and he has no great love for me, but all the same he's a straight up fellow, the kind you'd be lucky to have beside you when a scrap breaks out ..."

I can't recommend this novel enough if you like mysteries (you'll suddenly realize how mediocre the writing is is most of them), especially of the noir genre. There are also some great LA scenes, although Marlow and most of the characters seem to go about their business without much appreciation or interest in what makes it such a fascinating city. Highly recommended. show less

With the "Black-eyed Blond"--a title culled from a list of possible future Phillip Marlowe novels kept by Raymond Chandler--Benjamin Black (aka, John Banville) has managed to successfully conger up the famous detective in all his intelligent, humorous, jaded and deeply flawed glory. This wonderful novel succeeds on several levels. The plot tells a good story with enough twists and turns to satisfy any reader of crime fiction and a finish that is totally satisfying. Black evokes the setting of 50's California in a masterful and understated way with clever descriptions of the cars, clothes, weather and especially all the booze and cigarettes. He adheres faithfully to the noir genre: the cops are grumpy and a little dull-witted, the dames show more are deadly and deceptive and the bad guys are really bad. The best part of the novel, however, is Phillip Marlowe's pitch perfect narration, which is filled with humorous asides, unanswered queries, and especially delightful metaphors. This is a special novel that should not be missed by anyone who enjoys crime fiction, the noir genre, and especially Raymond Chandler. One only hopes that Banville follows this up by exploring one or more of the other potential titles on Chandler's list: "The Diary of a Loud Check Suit", "The Man with the Shredded Ear", or "Stop Screaming-It's Me". show less

Raymond Chandler is one of the big-three authors in the field of hard-boiled detective fiction, the others being the genre's progenitor, Dashiell Hammett, and whomever else you happen to be talking about at the moment. I personal feel his novel The Long Goodbye is one of the greatest American novels of the 20th Century, and the high point in a disappointingly small body of work. His main protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is one of the most charming, complex, and put-upon of all the era's detectives, and a good friend to me. In a way, Benjamin Black's Chandler pastiche The Black-Eyed Blonde is a welcome thing.

Right from the title, you can see that Black is going out of his way to emulate all the flair of Chanlder's noir sensibilities. show more Indeed, the opening paragraph reads almost like a parody of a Philip Marlowe book. This could be seen as disingenuous, but you really can't tell this type of story without the sort of meandering, overblown, yet somehow homey prose that Chandler reveled in. Our hapless protagonist is literally waiting in his office for the black-eyed blonde to walk in. The plot takes place shortly after the end of The Long Goodbye, and this may be one of the more trying flaws. There's a number of very obvious references to previous Marlowe stories than Chandler might have included. I'm all for continuity, but they pop up with a frequency that feels more like fan service than anything that adds to the story. The plot develops in a convoluted, round-a-bout fashion, which is totally appropriate for the milieu; Chandler could write metaphors like a poet, but couldn't plot his way out of a paper bag, and I think this helps build the atmosphere of his stories. Marlowe himself comments that things tend to just happen around him, and cases resolve themselves or don't regardless of his best efforts. Those who are familiar with the rest of Chandler's novels will totally see what Black is trying to do, setting up Marlowe for the previously non-sequiter events that would have occurred in Chandler's last book, had he lived to finish it.

Black captures the dry humor of Marlowe's inner-monologue flawlessly, though the whole ordeal is more self-aware and more cynical than what Chandler would have written. Both the sex and violence feels more explicit, which I imagine is a bit of modern crime-fiction sensibilities bleeding in onto this throwback. Indeed, The Black-Eyed Blonde is very much a throwback; a nostalgic return to a different type of crime story. Philip Marlowe is a man with no extraordinary intelligence or ability. He's just a working stiff with real heart who can't seem to find a break, which is exactly why we seem to like him so much. Black must like him too, because there's a lot of love for Chandler and his poetic, hard-boiled prose in these pages. I'm not sure whether he's playing with the tropes, or just letting them happen the way we expect, but in all we have a comfortable, engaging, and entertaining story that gives a bit more life to an old friend. show less

Philip Marlowe, private eye, the mean streets of L. A., they don't write them like that any more, or perhaps they do. At least this one comes pretty close. The author is good at capturing the style, the setup, and the recreating the types of characters that Raymond Chandler wrote about so effectively. While no one can completely resurrect a legend, this book definitely pays tribute to one of the best. Philip Marlowe is the quintessential private eye of the 1940's. Scraping by on a gumshoe's budget, he smokes too much, drinks too much, and has been known to become distracted by the sight of a pair of sexy legs. When Clare Cavendish, a white hot blonde with black eyes, slinks into his office, Marlowe knows he will take the case whatever show more it involves. Clare wants him to find a man. A man it turns out who should be dead, but is still walking around. The trail is going to be strewn with dead bodies and a lot of pain and bruises for Marlowe. If he finds the dead man walking, perhaps he can find the real reason Clare wants him found. If we can't have the original Marlowe, this will certainly do to fill the bill. Book provided for review by Amazon Vine. show less