Playback - Softcover

Chandler, Raymond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345251695 ISBN 13: 9780345251695

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1976

Synopsis

Stalking the tawdry neon wilderness of forties and fifties Los Angeles, Raymond Chandler's hard-drinking, wise-cracking Phillip Marlowe is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. "Playback" finds Marlowe mixing business with pleasure - getting paid to follow a mysterious and lovely red-head named Eleanor King. And wherever Miss King goes, trouble seems to follow. But she's easy on the eye and Marlowe's happy to do as he's told, all in the name of chivalry, of course. But one dead body later and what started out as a lazy afternoon's snooping soon becomes a deadly cocktail of blackmail, lies, mistaken identity - and murder...

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Marlowe is hired by an influential lawyer he's never herd of to tail a gorgeous redhead, but decides he prefers to help out the redhead. She's been acquitted of her alcoholic husband's murder, but her father-in-law prefers not to take the court's word for it.
"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence: " -- Ross Macdonald

About the Author:

Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888. He was educated at Dulwich College, London and studied international law in France and Germany. He published a number of poems and essays in local papers and worked as a reporter, essayist, and book reviewer. After serving for the Canadian Army during World War I he became a bookkeeper and auditor for Dabney Oil Syndicate. In 1939 he published The Big Sleep to instant acclaim in Britain and the US, introducing the world to his iconic private eye, Philip Marlowe. With Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, Chandler cemented his reputation as a giant of American popular culture and master of a style of detective fiction that would be widely admired and imitated. Chandler turned to screenwriting with Double Indemnity. He continued to write for Hollywood during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, receiving an Oscar nomination for The Blue Dahlia. In 1946 Chandler received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for screenplay and in 1954 for novel writing. During the last year of his life he was made President of the Mystery Writers of America. He died from pneumonia in 1959.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1976
• ISBN 10: 0345251695
• ISBN 13: 9780345251695
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback