As a crime writer, Black is credited for his subtle mysteries. As a novelist, Banville's known for his distinctive voice. Black also happens to be the pen name of the Irish novelist John Banville, who won the Man Booker Prize for his 2005 book, The Sea. Black's the writer behind the bestselling Quirke thrillers, about a grouchy pathologist in 1950s Dublin. The main reason is the author, Benjamin Black.
For Chandler fans - for fans of detective fiction, in general - it's a treat. Instead, I've just finished The Black-Eyed Blonde, and I'm wondering how on Earth it rings so true. I've been a Chandler fan for years, but I also wanted to reread him because I knew I'd be reviewing a new Chandler book - written by somebody else.Īs Marlowe himself says in Chandler's 1953 novel The Long Goodbye, "there is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself." Let's just say I was ready to be disappointed. Chandler, who died in 1959, was a forefather of the modern detective novel. To prepare, I reread a handful of the Philip Marlowe novels by the great Raymond Chandler, from The Big Sleep to The Little Sister. My wife and I recently moved to Los Angeles. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. The results are Chandleresque, sure, but you can see Banville’s sense of fun.Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Black-Eyed Blonde Author Benjamin Black “It’s vintage L.A., toots: The hot summer, rain on the asphalt, the woman with the lipstick, cigarette ash and alienation, V8 coupes, tough guys, snub-nosed pistols, the ice melting in the bourbon…. Soon he is tangling with one of Bay City’s richest and most ruthless families - and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune. Then a new client is shown in: blond, beautiful, and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover.Īlmost immediately, Marlowe discovers that the man’s disappearance is merely the first in a series of bewildering events.
Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and the private eye business is a little slow. The streets of Bay City, California, in the early 1950s are as mean as they get. “It was one of those Tuesday afternoons in summer when you wonder if the earth has stopped revolving.” It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room.” “Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling… I loved this book. Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe returns in The Black-Eyed Blonde - also published as Marlowe as by John Banville - the basis for the major motion picture starring Liam Neeson as the iconic detective.
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