Quote:
Originally Posted by omk3
Speaking about Marlowe, has anyone read (and liked) Poodle Springs? It's supposed to be an unfinished book by Chandler, and Robert Parker completed it. I tried (with a lot of apprehension), but I couldn't get past the first few pages. That was not Marlowe as I knew and loved him.
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I've read both (shame on me) Poodle Springs, that's the one he completed from Chandler's unfinished manuscript and Perchance to Dream. You're right, they're not that good, and they take place after the original Marlowe canon. What's most interesting about Marlowe as seen through Parker's eyes is that Spenser, Parker's original creation, was directly based upon Marlowe. There's an interview somewhere where Parker says (paraphrasing)
I just thought of what Marlowe would do and I had Spenser do it.
If you want somehing fun and original, not parody or imitation, then William F. Nolan's "The Black Mask Boys" series is worth a look. In the series, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Erle Stanely Gardner are amateur sleuths solving crimes.
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ey...mask_boys.html
Also, the TV movie of Poodle Springs isn't half bad, with James Caan playing the aging Marlowe.