They never came tougher than Marlowe, a cynical, world-weary, wise-cracking shamus whose honesty in a dishonest world sent him down the mean streets again and again in search of some kind of justice.
Ed Bishop stars as Philip Marlowe in these powerfully atmospheric BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Raymond Chandler’s novels.
The Big Sleep – General Sternwood’s daughters came in both the colours of trouble – blonde and brunette – and they had all the usual vices. With four million dollars behind them, blackmail was only a matter of time. And blackmail can be murder.
The High Window – Linda Conquest was very tough, very kissable and very missing, along with one very valuable old coin. But soon Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead.
The Lady in the Lake – Blonde, beautiful and wild, Crystal Kingsley had never been the faithful little wife. But when she goes missing for a month, and then a womans body surfaces in an isolated mountain lake, murder-a-day Marlowe is back in business.
The Little Sister – Marlowe is on the case of a missing brother from a two-bit Kansas town, who had the embarrassing habit of knowing guys who finished up on the wrong end of an ice-pick. Until, that is, he did too.
The Long Goodbye – Terry Lennox seemed like a nice guy. Okay, he was a drunk but maybe that could happen to anyone with too much money, too much time and a wife who played the field in a big way. Trouble was, when she ended up dead, it wasn’t money that got Lennox to Mexico. It was Marlowe.
Farewell My Lovely – At six feet five, Moose Malloy is a big man who looks about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food and about as dangerous. His girl Velma disappeared eight years ago, and now he wants to find her.
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