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Poodle Springs
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Manufacturer: Berkley
Author: Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker
Publisher: Berkley
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price:
You Save: $ 7.50 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Berkley
Author: Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker
Publisher: Berkley
Average Customer Rating:
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Poodle Springs Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780425123430
ISBN: 042512343X
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 1
Publication Date: 1990-11-01
Publisher: Berkley
Studio: Berkley
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780425123430
ISBN: 042512343X
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 1
Publication Date: 1990-11-01
Publisher: Berkley
Studio: Berkley
Editorial Review of Poodle Springs
Philip Marlowe marries a rich, beautiful society lady who wants him to settledown. But old habits die hard, and Marlowe soon is back in business, enmeshedin a case involving pornography, bigamy, and murder. 2 cassettes.
Customer Reviews of Poodle Springs
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Solid Marlowe Mystery
Review: Poodle Springs is Robert B. Parker's completion of a novel started by Raymond Chandler before he died in 1959 featuring private detective Philip Marlow. While I have read some of Chandler's previous novels featuring Marlow I have no emotional attachment to the character so I come with a blank slate in terms of evaluating whether Parker lives up to Chandler's character. Frankly I thought Parker did a fabulous job with the novel. It is a rather straightforward, gritty mystery, and a well done one at that. The tricky part is the unlikely event of Marlowe's being married to Linda Loring ne Potter (what her last name really is was a bit confusing to me, except she is now Mrs. Marlowe in this novel).
In this novel Marlowe is living in the plush community of Poodle Springs with his very wealthy wife instead of his usual gritty haunts in Los Angeles. He is hired to find a man who has skipped out on a $100,000 IOU from an illegal gambling establishment. It turns out the fellow is leading a double life involving pornography and blackmail and has gotten himself way over is head. Marlowe, intrepid as ever, chases him down in a nicely twisted plot. While doing this Marlowe has to deal with his rich wife's unhappiness over his continuing to be a private eye when he could live a life of leisure and spend time with her. But that he can't do or he wouldn't be Philip Marlowe anymore. The story revolved more around the case than Marlowe's marriage to Linda but Parker does a great job of blending it in. Frankly, I think this is one of the better novels Parker has written.
My only complaint about the novel is that we really never get to know Linda very well at all. Her mannerisms come off as a spoiled rich debutante but she is clearly not that. But we don't really ever know where she is coming from or get to know her. I suspect that Parker had plenty to work with to flesh out Marlowe's actions but had absolutely nothing to go on as to how Chandler envisioned developing Linda's character. So, my speculation is, in deference to Chandler he didn't try to flesh her character out too much but just left her pretty much like he found her. She comes off as a real swell gal.
Overall, on pure enjoyment, I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Pleasant Read
Review: "Poodle Springs" is not Raymond Chandler's best work. It is not Robert B. Parker's best work, either. It doesn't quite have the edge of the usual Marlowe, or the wit of the usual Spenser.
Having said that, Chandler and Parker are both quite talented and capable authors. Either of them could make a cereal box interesting! So you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours with "Poodle Springs." It is a quick, fun read. The mystery itself is not mind-bending, but it does keep you guessing for a while.
I would have given the book four stars, such is my respect for both authors. However, a pet peeve. Parker fans are, no doubt, well aware of Parker's penchant for angst-filled relationships, where the parties love each other desperately - even perfectly - but cannot live together. And forget being married! In Parker's world, marriage risks crushing the vibrant soul of the hero every time. This was an interesting theme, maybe, when Parker first explored it with Spenser and Susan Silverman.
But since then, he has included it in every book series he's touched. The pattern is the same every time, and it has gotten quite tedious. As annoyed as I was to see it reappear in the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone novels, at least those series are purely Parker's domain to use as he wishes to explore his marriage issues. But to impose his peculiar hangup on Chandler's work here in "Poodle Springs" is to, I think, overstep his bounds. And I say this as a devoted Parker fan who owns every one of his books.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Decent Marlowe mystery completed by Parker 30 years after Chandler's death !
Review: Chandler is best known for his half dozen private-eye Philip Marlowe novels, written during the 40's and 50's. (Chandler also authored numerous screenplays and short stories...) Marlowe is a hard-boiled, handsome but tough-guy detective who solves crimes in no frills mysteries in the vein of his fictional contemporaries Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane. "Poodle Springs" arose from four chapters penned by Chandler himself prior to his death (in 1959), and then completed in full-length novel form in 1989 by fan and famous author Robert B. Parker. The setting is undoubtedly fashioned after the ritzy Palm Springs and the grittier side of Hollywood.
Marlowe has moved in with his wealthy wife, who wants him to quit the "sordid" detective work that seems to be his passion to concentrate on her and her social activities. But Marlowe refuses to be a kept man, insisting that his work defines him and makes him whole despite his love for wife Linda. After his move to the Springs, he lands a job investigating a missing photographer that owes a hundred grand to a casino. He soon enough figures out the gambler is basically a con man who is already married to a nice downtown Hollywood gal worlds apart from his (other) wealthy wife, another Poodle Springs denizen. The plot moves along at a decent hunt-and-chase pace, filled with smoking, boozing, and sexual innuendo (but nothing explicit), with a couple more shootings along the way before Marlowe figures the whole thing out before the cops can zero in on the villain.
Supposedly Parker has done a credible job finishing the book. The novel is a quick, fun read without too much violence or overwrought suspense - and few words are wasted on anything but the central storyline as Marlowe relentlessly chases clues and solves the mystery. Such classic fiction from half a century ago seems a little tame by today's thriller standards, but then again a low stress read can still amuse and entertain. We enjoyed Marlowe well enough to consider seeking out some of the original stories and catching up on his famous creator's own story telling prowess.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: If you like Parker's Spenser novels, enjoy.
Review: Having never read a Marlowe book, I can't imagine that Parker kept his writing very true to the spirit of Marlowe. Having read every Spenser novel, I can tell you that about 1/3 of the way through the book I just started imagining that Marlowe was Spenser in some sort of time warp and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Is this the way it should have been? Of course not, but I like the Spenser novels so I guess I really can't complain. I just kept wondering where Hawk was!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Best Book Ever Written!
Review: Well, there's not too much to say about Poodle Springs without giving it away, but these two authors are a dinamic duo, to say the least! Poodle Springs was the best book I've ever read in my entire life. I loved the story so much that I couldn't put it down. I read all 400 something pages in one night! Take that Harry Potter!
Review Summary: Solid Marlowe Mystery
Review: Poodle Springs is Robert B. Parker's completion of a novel started by Raymond Chandler before he died in 1959 featuring private detective Philip Marlow. While I have read some of Chandler's previous novels featuring Marlow I have no emotional attachment to the character so I come with a blank slate in terms of evaluating whether Parker lives up to Chandler's character. Frankly I thought Parker did a fabulous job with the novel. It is a rather straightforward, gritty mystery, and a well done one at that. The tricky part is the unlikely event of Marlowe's being married to Linda Loring ne Potter (what her last name really is was a bit confusing to me, except she is now Mrs. Marlowe in this novel).
In this novel Marlowe is living in the plush community of Poodle Springs with his very wealthy wife instead of his usual gritty haunts in Los Angeles. He is hired to find a man who has skipped out on a $100,000 IOU from an illegal gambling establishment. It turns out the fellow is leading a double life involving pornography and blackmail and has gotten himself way over is head. Marlowe, intrepid as ever, chases him down in a nicely twisted plot. While doing this Marlowe has to deal with his rich wife's unhappiness over his continuing to be a private eye when he could live a life of leisure and spend time with her. But that he can't do or he wouldn't be Philip Marlowe anymore. The story revolved more around the case than Marlowe's marriage to Linda but Parker does a great job of blending it in. Frankly, I think this is one of the better novels Parker has written.
My only complaint about the novel is that we really never get to know Linda very well at all. Her mannerisms come off as a spoiled rich debutante but she is clearly not that. But we don't really ever know where she is coming from or get to know her. I suspect that Parker had plenty to work with to flesh out Marlowe's actions but had absolutely nothing to go on as to how Chandler envisioned developing Linda's character. So, my speculation is, in deference to Chandler he didn't try to flesh her character out too much but just left her pretty much like he found her. She comes off as a real swell gal.
Overall, on pure enjoyment, I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Pleasant Read
Review: "Poodle Springs" is not Raymond Chandler's best work. It is not Robert B. Parker's best work, either. It doesn't quite have the edge of the usual Marlowe, or the wit of the usual Spenser.
Having said that, Chandler and Parker are both quite talented and capable authors. Either of them could make a cereal box interesting! So you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours with "Poodle Springs." It is a quick, fun read. The mystery itself is not mind-bending, but it does keep you guessing for a while.
I would have given the book four stars, such is my respect for both authors. However, a pet peeve. Parker fans are, no doubt, well aware of Parker's penchant for angst-filled relationships, where the parties love each other desperately - even perfectly - but cannot live together. And forget being married! In Parker's world, marriage risks crushing the vibrant soul of the hero every time. This was an interesting theme, maybe, when Parker first explored it with Spenser and Susan Silverman.
But since then, he has included it in every book series he's touched. The pattern is the same every time, and it has gotten quite tedious. As annoyed as I was to see it reappear in the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone novels, at least those series are purely Parker's domain to use as he wishes to explore his marriage issues. But to impose his peculiar hangup on Chandler's work here in "Poodle Springs" is to, I think, overstep his bounds. And I say this as a devoted Parker fan who owns every one of his books.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Decent Marlowe mystery completed by Parker 30 years after Chandler's death !
Review: Chandler is best known for his half dozen private-eye Philip Marlowe novels, written during the 40's and 50's. (Chandler also authored numerous screenplays and short stories...) Marlowe is a hard-boiled, handsome but tough-guy detective who solves crimes in no frills mysteries in the vein of his fictional contemporaries Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane. "Poodle Springs" arose from four chapters penned by Chandler himself prior to his death (in 1959), and then completed in full-length novel form in 1989 by fan and famous author Robert B. Parker. The setting is undoubtedly fashioned after the ritzy Palm Springs and the grittier side of Hollywood.
Marlowe has moved in with his wealthy wife, who wants him to quit the "sordid" detective work that seems to be his passion to concentrate on her and her social activities. But Marlowe refuses to be a kept man, insisting that his work defines him and makes him whole despite his love for wife Linda. After his move to the Springs, he lands a job investigating a missing photographer that owes a hundred grand to a casino. He soon enough figures out the gambler is basically a con man who is already married to a nice downtown Hollywood gal worlds apart from his (other) wealthy wife, another Poodle Springs denizen. The plot moves along at a decent hunt-and-chase pace, filled with smoking, boozing, and sexual innuendo (but nothing explicit), with a couple more shootings along the way before Marlowe figures the whole thing out before the cops can zero in on the villain.
Supposedly Parker has done a credible job finishing the book. The novel is a quick, fun read without too much violence or overwrought suspense - and few words are wasted on anything but the central storyline as Marlowe relentlessly chases clues and solves the mystery. Such classic fiction from half a century ago seems a little tame by today's thriller standards, but then again a low stress read can still amuse and entertain. We enjoyed Marlowe well enough to consider seeking out some of the original stories and catching up on his famous creator's own story telling prowess.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: If you like Parker's Spenser novels, enjoy.
Review: Having never read a Marlowe book, I can't imagine that Parker kept his writing very true to the spirit of Marlowe. Having read every Spenser novel, I can tell you that about 1/3 of the way through the book I just started imagining that Marlowe was Spenser in some sort of time warp and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Is this the way it should have been? Of course not, but I like the Spenser novels so I guess I really can't complain. I just kept wondering where Hawk was!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Best Book Ever Written!
Review: Well, there's not too much to say about Poodle Springs without giving it away, but these two authors are a dinamic duo, to say the least! Poodle Springs was the best book I've ever read in my entire life. I loved the story so much that I couldn't put it down. I read all 400 something pages in one night! Take that Harry Potter!
If you like suspence thrillers with just the right about of 50's mystery stories, complete with melodramatic love stories and dialog-over-action, then you'll love Poodle Springs. I definetly recomend it. Go out and buy one. Please.