As a pastiche, Mina does a passable job of imitating Raymond Chandler’s style of writing. Her plot is easily as convoluted and as much of a head-scratcher as any of Chandler’s books and her portrayal of L.A.’s denizens is often spot-on. Even so, something of the mood that Chandler was so good at seems to be lacking from the Scottish author’s narrative. There seems to be a bit too much of the highland gloom and not enough southern California sunshine. Mina also might want to remember that in Los Angeles, cars have hoods, not bonnets, people have neighbors, not neighbours, and accounts are settled with checks, not checques.

But Denise Mina has an advantage that the other authors lack. As the first woman to pen a book about Marlowe, it’s not surprising that she would tackle the subject of his supposedly problematic relationship with women. Scholarly discussions (if any discussion about hard-drinking, tough-talking low-rent PIs can ever be considered scholarly) are quick to point out that females often turn out to be the villains in Chandler’s novels and that the rest are likely to be dissolute, untrustworthy, or otherwise not someone a self-respecting detective would want to take home to meet his mother. While this is true to a point in Mina’s version of Marlowe’s world, she does reintroduce a character who is arguably a match for Marlowe in cleverness, street-smarts and character. Marlowe first met Anne Riordan, the daughter of the Bay City police chief, in Farewell My Lovely, when he rejected a proposal of a professional partnership. Now the owner of a successful agency staffed entirely by female investigators, Riordan takes pleasure in reminding Marlowe often that, while her career is booming, his has remained stagnant. Even so, Marlowe still looks at her and thinks “It was a fine face with a small nose and a long lip. It was a face you could look at for the rest of your life and not get bored.

While this is technically a standalone novel, being the only Philip Marlowe book written so far by Denise Mina, it is also the thirteenth book Marlowe book. Seven were written by Raymond Chandler during his lifetime. Robert B. Parker finished Poodle Springs and followed it up with Perchance to Dream. In addition, Benjamin Black, Lawrence Osborne and Joe Ide have each written a book featuring Marlowe.

All in all, it’s a good effort from a fine author. If I can’t read Chandler, then I’m fine reading Mina.

*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire. ( )

This was the perfect book to read on a long ferry journey. Interesting enough to keep me reading, not too challenging so that I could pick it up and put it down several times.

Set in LA, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired to find the daughter of an extremely rich man. She has a son so the heir is sorted but she has walked out and her father wants to be able to tell her son that he looked for her. He chooses Marlowe thinking that he wouldn't do a good job. The family had no need for Christine, the daughter, to be found but needed to build a narrative around her disappearance.

Unfortuntately for them, Marlowe is quite good at his job and found her quickly but of course then the excitement begins. There are murders and low-life, hotels you wouldn't want to stay in and the heat. It is very, very hot in LA.

The heat of the day was rising. It was climbing out of the sewers. It was creeping out of the stones. Cracks in the sidewalk flowered open to let out heat-warmed dust that lurked in the air, ready to catch children by the throat, smother babies or hold a cushion over Grammie's face. It was early, not yet noon, but the memory of yesterday's sandy heat made everyone dread it, like the sound of a second cough in an empty house at two a.m.
p71

Marlowe is not the only detective on the trail of Christine and it is his job, he realises, to see that she is not killed. He is an old-fashioned detective, a set of ethics all his own and a protective attitude towards women, hard-boiled, like Chandler's version, and as in Chandler's writing, the seedy and sordid are lightened slightly by the humour or 'wisecracks' and use of simile and metaphor. Some examples are:

There was something wrong, something bad in it, like a mouthful of soup with a stray hair that brushes your lip on the way in and then disappears. p1 describing the weather.

Her roots were so white and bright they shone like stars in a black sky. p2 describing Maud's hair

. . . they were as drunk as monkeys at a rum convention. p3

They were the ocean that the big fish moved in, hangers-on and back grounders. The movie colony is made up of people with burning ambition and these people were warming their hands on that fire.

These are clear, often exaggerated yet show exactly how things are.

This is yet another book where a character continues long after the author has died or finished with them. Other examples where this has happened are with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a variety of authors have written further James Bond stories. Hercule Poirot has continued with Sophie Hannah and I believe there is also a new Jeeves and Wooster. Mina is the first female to write a Philip Marlowe story and it fitted the bill exactly. I wonder if this is a new genre although I am not sure what it would be called. Continuations? Character rebirth? ( )

I was disappointed by this book's author, whose writing I usually love, and her attempt to revive of one of my favorite detectives. The writing is careless (the protagonist sees his love interest with green eyes and then, later, with blue eyes; a character wears a red dress but then, later in the evening, her dress turns red with blood). It is jarring to return to the familiar setting of 1930s Los Angeles but hear it described in British terms ("turn-ups" on suit pants and a car "bonnet"), but I would be willing to concede these inconsistencies if the characters and banter were interesting. Unfortunately they are not. Not recommended, especially not for fans of Raymond Chandler. ( )

The plot of The Second Murderer is simple. Philip Marlowe, pondering the inconsistencies of a recent case he was involved in, gets a mysterious phone call from Annaliese Lyle, secretary and punching bag to elderly millionaire Chadwick Montgomery, requesting his presence at the Montgomery mansion. Chadwick’s daughter, Christine (Chrissie), has run away during her engagement party and Chadwick wants to hire Philip Marlowe, among other private investigators, to find her and bring her back. Marlowe’s visit to the mansion leaves him cold. He also notices the bruises on Annaliese’s wrists and neck. It makes him wonder whether Chrissie had good reason to run away. And of course, Marlowe being the moral person he is, wonders whether he indeed will return Chrissie, should he find her.
Meanwhile, Marlowe is fixated on a previous case in which Black Jack Beau was convicted of murdering Pasco Pete. Something just doesn’t feel right.
I’ll state outright that finding Chrissie is easy. Marlowe states that Chrissie was “…easier to find than an optimist in a casino.” But once found, what does he do with her, a girl naive about living the life of the common folk? That’s the question.
Along the way, Marlowe has to deal with his mixed feelings about fellow investigator Anne Riordan, introduced in Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely. Riordan was also hired to find Chrissie. He also meets the bums of Skid Row, the tough cops, the grifters and the murderers. Of course there are several murders to contend with.

However, one doesn’t necessarily read Raymond Chandler for the plot. I read it for the prose. Mina does a masterful job of emulating the language and tone of Chandler’s writing, taking readers to the underbelly of noir Los Angeles. Her description of the claustrophobic stifling Los Angeles June heat, the down and out living on Skid Row, a person’s appearance all make you believe you’re reading Raymond Chandler. Taking place in the 1940s, Mina does update Marlowe’s attitudes a bit as they relate to women, gays and life in general.

One reviewer states that Mina’s re-creation is “…creative, timely-but-not-anachronistic…”

According to Mina, the title of the book comes from a Shakespeare scene Chandler mentions in Farewell, My Lovely and was a potential title for a book in a list in his notebooks.

Another reviewer stated that “Noir fans will hope Mina returns to the mean streets of L.A. again soon.” I wholeheartedly agree. ( )

Not gonna lie, this is my favourite Philip Marlowe novel. Mina makes his world feel more complete just by adding well-rounded female characters. Marlowe has not been my favourite hardboiled detective (that honour goes to Lew Archer), but in this book I liked him a fair bit. Perhaps now I'll go back to my Chandler omnibus and carry Mina's Marlowe in my head. ( )