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Title details for Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne - Available

Only to Sleep

A Philip Marlowe Novel

by Lawrence Osborne
Ray Porter
Audiobook
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Lawrence Osborne brings one of literature’s most enduring detectives back to life—as Private Investigator Philip Marlowe returns for one last adventure.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND NPR • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR AND SHAMUS AWARDS

The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. And Philip Marlowe—now in his seventy-second year—is living out his retirement in the terrace bar of the La Fonda hotel. Sipping margaritas, playing cards, his silver-tipped cane at the ready. When in saunter two men dressed like undertakers, with a case that has his name written all over it.   
For Marlowe, this is his last roll of the dice, his swan song. His mission is to investigate the death of Donald Zinn—supposedly drowned off his yacht, and leaving behind a much younger and now very rich wife. But is Zinn actually alive? Are the pair living off the spoils? 
Set between the border and badlands of Mexico and California, Lawrence Osborne’s resurrection of the iconic Marlowe is an unforgettable addition to the Raymond Chandler canon.
 
Praise for Only to Sleep
 
“A new case for Philip Marlowe and—have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables —it crackles.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
 
“Brilliant. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match.”—William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart
 
“A Marlowe we at once know, but have never met before. As much a meditation on aging and memory as it is a crime thriller.”—Los Angeles Times
 
“It’s the kind of book where, when you read it, it turns the world to black and white for a half-hour afterward. It leaves you with the taste of rum and blood in your mouth. It hangs with you like a scar.”—NPR

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 24, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781984828040
      • File size: 209725 KB
      • Duration: 07:16:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Ray Porter resurrects quintessential noir detective Philip Marlowe with the expected hard-boiled unflappability. But Porter also reveals the unprecedented insecurities of this Marlowe, who is now 72, and careful to hide his physical limitations and accompanying feelings of vulnerability. This new story, which takes place in 1988, places Marlowe in Mexico and California, where he is chasing a likely insurance fraud. A body that washes up on a beach is identified by Mexican police as that of a rich gringo. After he is quickly cremated, his bewitching widow responds with a suspicious journey to a series of quaint Mexican hotels. Like the original novels by Raymond Chandler, this tale is woven with finely crafted phrases rich with nuance, and Porter's staccato delivery does justice to their provenance. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 21, 2018
      Set in 1988, this successful attempt to channel the spirit of Raymond Chandler from Osborne (Beautiful Animals) finds 72-year-old Philip Marlowe living a quiet life in Baja California “after a low near-decade of sloth and decay and Ronald Reagan.” One day, two representatives of the Pacific Mutual insurance company call on Marlowe. Donald Zinn, a developer and a Pacific Mutual client, has drowned, apparently accidentally, off the coast of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The company is hoping that it can reduce its financial exposure if Marlowe finds evidence that Zinn, who was heavily in debt, took his own life or was involved in criminal activities. The PI agrees to look into the matter, starting with a visit to the resort that Zinn and his widow had been running. While the plot follows familiar paths, Osborne has mastered Chandler’s gift for metaphor (the Pacific Life reps “bared the teeth of friendly hyenas who have done their killing for the day”) and deepens Marlowe’s psyche as he responds to “a sad summons from the depths of own wasted past.” This is the perfect companion volume to The Annotated Big Sleep (reviewed on p. 46). Agent: Adam Eaglin, Cheney Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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