Only to Sleep

SPOILERS! This is the fourth Marlowe novel approved by Chandler's estate, and I think it's the best--a beautifully written story in which almost nothing actually happens--Marlowe is an old man of 70, bored, living in Mexico, haunted by nightmares, taking on a seemingly simple case in which (of course) nothing is as it seems. He gets thrown out of a party, there's a knife fight, and one murder and truly horrific disfigurement that is described briefly in the past tense. No one is brought to justice, though the villain of the story is the victim of the murder. There's another murder that's over with before the story starts, and it's the thing that brings Marlowe back to himself in the end. Nicely done, and mostly sad, though it leaves show more Marlowe better off than he started--for once. show less

At 72 years of age, Philip Marlowe has retired. But when he’s offered a case by an insurance company, he decides to have one last adventure. They want Marlowe to investigate the death of Donald Zinn. They’ve paid Zinn’s widow a very large sum of money but something doesn’t seem right and they think Marlowe is the man to get to the bottom of it.

Who doesn’t know and love Philip Marlowe? What a perfect delight to have an author such as Lawrence Osborne bring him to life once again. The Robert Chandler Estate asked Mr. Osborne to write this book and they couldn’t have picked a better author to do the job. Osborne has done a wonderful job of creating an older Marlowe. And he has done an excellent job of depicting a man who has show more led an adventurous life but now is headed to a more sedentary life and all of the conflicting emotions that go along with that. So enjoyable to once again join Marlowe as he takes on his last investigation.

This is a bit different from Mr. Osborne’s other books in that he adapts the Chandler style of telling this story. But his particular talents still shine through. He’s lived in many countries and has quite a knack for detailing each location that he brings his characters to. Most of this book takes place in different locations in Mexico and the author brings his readers right there with him. With all the sights and smells and colors, you’ll completely forget that you’re not actually there. I do hope that one day Mr. Osborne will once again bring Mr. Marlowe out of retirement for another adventure.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review. show less

Superb new Marlowe novel. It's set in 1988, when the LA knight is 72 years old, and an insurance company asks him to find out the story behind a rich guy who has died in Mexico, leaving a young wife to get the insurance. Marlowe treks to Mexico, visiting some small towns looking into things. Lots of the good Marlowe tone in it, and lots of good descriptions of the small Mexican towns. At first I got a bit tired of the "I'm so old" stuff but that kind of thing is part and parcel of Chandler, too. Turned into a pretty gripping, very Chandleresque novel.

It’s 1988 and Philip Marlowe is already 72 years old and retired. But when an insurance asks for his help to investigate the death of a certain Donald Zinn, his curiosity is aroused and he accepts the job. After talking to the widow – young and beautiful and hardly mourning – he travels to Mexico to follow the last traces of the rich American. He soon finds out that there are some pieces about his death which do not really make sense and then he happens to find the man alive and kicking. But Zinn isn’t stupid, he knows how to get money and how to get rid of Marlowe. A scavenger hunt starts across Mexico.

Lawrence Osborne, who could already win me as a loyal reader with his former novels “Beautiful Animals” and “The show more Forgiven”, has done a great job in his Philip Marlowe novel. I liked Raymond Chandler’s hard boiled crime novels about the investigator and it is a risk to copy such a great writer. Yet, Osborne succeeded in creating exactly the mood that one finds in the old Marlowe novels and he placed the novel convincingly in the late 1980s. The title already is an homage to Chandler’s greatest novel and you can feel that Osborne has a lot of respect for his idol.

The novel itself has everything it needs: a femme fatale who seems to shift easily from one role into the other, a treacherous couple, a fierce environment where bribery reigns and money easily floats between the informant and the investigator. Some unexpected twists and turns made the plot move at a high pace, but most of all, it is the atmosphere that made it a great enjoyment to read. Even though it set in 1988, you can still feel the old Marlowe who acts as if nothing had changed since the 1930s and actually much that happens in Mexico could have happened decades before in exactly the same way. For me, Osborne did a great job and his Marlowe is in no way inferior to Chandler’s. show less

A ho-hum mystery propels Marlowe to reflect on his mortality and the decay of late twentieth century Mexico, and ends with a great deal of ambiguity. I admired the novel for its unconventional take on its hero, but most of the time i thought it was a pretty straight-forward mystery where the character and the unusual times in which he found himself recede in the background.

I felt this was very well done. The first few chapters I felt he was trying too hard he sounded almost more Chandler than chandler . As it went on , though, I felt he got into the almost dreamlike quality that was Chandler’s signature style. The plot was fairly straightforward and easy to follow, with a manageable number of characters and the sparse but poetic dialogue that makes noir such a treat

Osborne continues the story of Philip Marlowe as created by Raymond Chandler, and succeeds in his portrayal of Marlowe as a 70+ year old. Having been hired by an insurance company to track down the widow heir of a substantial settlement, Marlowe decides to come out of retirement for this last job to verify the circumstances of the claim. The circuitous trail to find the widow leads him to several seaside locations in Mexico, and finally to Mexico City. Throughout the twists and turns, motivations and alliances shift repeatedly, including Marlowe's own realizations and intentions. In fact, his character is at least as much of a mystery as the plot itself.