The Black Eyed Blonde Author:Benjamin Black Is it enough that Benjamin Black is actually Man Booker Prize and Irish PEN Award winner John Banville, and that as Black he has created the singular pathologist-sleuth Quirke? Apparently not, as he also seems to be able to don Raymond Chandler's mantle and give us a new Philip Marlowe thriller that is spot-on. In 1950s Los Angeles, private dete... more »ctive Philip Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and business is a little slow. Then a new client arrives-young, beautiful, expensively dressed, Clare Cavendish wants Marlowe to find her former lover, a man named Nico Peterson. Soon Marlowe is not only under the spell of the black-eyed blonde, he's also tangling with one of the city's richest families, and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune.« less