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Only to Sleep

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Only to Sleep

By: Lawrence Osborne
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, read by Ray Porter.

Wealthy dead American. Beautiful young widow. This case has PI Philip Marlowe’s name written all over it. Is it enough to bring him back for one last adventure?

The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. Private Investigator Philip Marlowe – now in his seventy-second year – has been 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.

At last Marlowe is back where he belongs. His mission is to investigate Donald Zinn – supposedly drowned off his yacht, leaving a much younger and now very rich wife. Marlowe’s speciality. 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.

 Detective Fiction Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Literary Fiction Mystery Private Investigators Mexico Latin America

Critic Reviews

A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive… I loved it (John Gray)
Splendid
A brilliant Raymond Chandler continuation novel with an ageing Philip Marlowe. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match (William Boyd)
It's a joy to see Philip Marlowe lured back for one last job by the gleefully unsentimental Lawrence Osborne... If you like noir, pour yourself something cool and enjoy one final dark night of the soul (Joseph Knox, author of Sirens)
The decayed grandeur of the setting, the mystery of an alluring femme fatale, an old man's tussle with his conscience and his ageing body, and a healthy number of spectacular set-pieces work a subtle magic... both a convincing Marlowe and a seedily satisfying thriller (Andrew Holgate)
This is the best Marlowe novel I have read apart from the master's own works... it's the only one I can imagine Chandler liking (Jake Kerridge)
Osborne succeeds brilliantly... captures the dreamlike quality of the original Marlowe novels (Bruce deSilva)
Superb... Osborne's dialogue and description echo Chandler's wit and world-weariness with uncanny skill (Mark Sanderson)
An exhilarating talent...one of our finest writers (Francesca Angelini)
Lawrence Osborne, an accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction, has been asked to imagine a new case for Philip Marlow and -- have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables -- it crackles...brisk and disarming (Laura Lipman)
All stars
Most relevant
It's a while since I read any Chandler but I don't remember him being so entranced by description and so lacking in plot or interesting characters. Marlow is laconic to a fault and the narration by Ray Porter is spot-on but he doesn't have too much to work with. The plot, what little there is of it, seems to be driven by location.

Stylish and studied but lacking in pace

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