Only to Sleep

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What to expect

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.

Critics Review

A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive… I loved it
New Statesman, **Books of the Year**
Splendid
Mail on Sunday
A brilliant Raymond Chandler continuation novel with an ageing Philip Marlowe. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match
Guardian
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
Sunday Times
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
Daily Telegraph, **Books of the Year**
Osborne succeeds brilliantly... captures the dreamlike quality of the original Marlowe novels
Daily Mail
Superb... Osborne's dialogue and description echo Chandler's wit and world-weariness with uncanny skill
Evening Standard
An exhilarating talent...one of our finest writers
Sunday Times
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
New York Times Book Review

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