By reading other reviews, I found out that this Chandler thriller was “lost” for some time. Just finished it on a trip to Argentina (13.5 hours in the plane you know). This is Chandler’s final novel. While I had read many others, I hadn’t read this one. Still working through the full set of Chandler in Vintage Crime/Black Lizard that I bought in NY a couple months ago.

Playback is a bit darker than his others. Marlowe is getting older and feels it. He gets knocked down more. He also spends intimate time with the pretty woman (a rarity). This part is done in classic Chandler style, no details just “and in the morning” thing. The attention confuses Marlowe:

“What a lot of different girls you are. Now you’re making like a moll. When I first saw you, you were a quiet well-bred little lady. You didn’t like dreamboats like Mitchell making a pitch at you. Then you bought yourself a pack of cigarettes and smoked one as if you hated it. Then you let him cuddle you – after you got down here. Then you tore your blouse at me ha, ha, ha, cynical as a Park Avenue pet after her butter and egg man goes home. Then you let me cuddle you. Then you cracked me on the head with a whiskey bottle. Now you’re talking about a beautiful life in Rio. Which one of you would have her head on th enext pillow when I woke up in the morning?”

I have met women like that.