Raymond Chandler's incomparable private detective returns, embroiled in the most difficult and dangerous case of his career by a seductive young heiress. “It was one of those summer Tuesday evenings when you begin to wonder if the Earth has stopped turning. The phone on my desk looked like it knew it was being watched. Streams of traffic were flowing down the street below, and a few pedestrians, men in hats, were heading towards nowhere.” So begins “The Black-Eyed Blonde,” a new novel starring Philip Marlowe—yes, that same Philip Marlowe. Following on from Raymond Chandler, Benjamin Black brought Marlowe back to life for a new case on the tough streets of Bay City, California. It's the early 1950s, Marlow is, as always, tireless and lonely, and things are going neither shaky nor slow. Then a new client appears: young, beautiful and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover, a man named Nico Peterson. Marlowe goes on a search, but almost immediately discovers that Peterson's disappearance is only the first in a series of events that could lead to a dead end. He soon discovers one of Bay City's wealthiest families and begins to realize just how far they will go to protect their fortune. Only Benjamin Black, a modern master of the genre, could write a new Philip Marlowe mystery novel that combines originality and charm. the original, and the sharpness and freshness inherent in the best examples of the modern crime genre.