Playback - Raymond Chandler

 

I believe that this is the last Phillip Marlowe book in Chandler's series and I wanted to finish them out, so when this finally came available from our library, I grabbed. Here, Marlowe is hired by one beautiful woman to tail another beautiful woman but is quite vague and cagey about the whys and wherefores. But the job pays well and they are in a rush, so he takes it, somewhat against his better judgement. Of course, it isn't long before he runs into sex'n'violence and this supposed-easy-job gets convoluted.

It turns out that I have missed a couple of other books in the series so I will look out for them, as well, but this one, if indeed I have my info right and it was the last that Chandler wrote, is a little disjointed. Nothing dramatic, but not quite the usual twists'n'turns for a Phillip Marlowe tale. Still, there are plenty of tough guys, double crossing PI's (multiple were hired for the same job, apparently), murders, "suicides", violence and even sex.

Maybe not as well done as some of the other tales, but still not bad and entertaining as a quick read. Let me see what the last couple are like when they come available...