The Long Goodbye

Philip Marlowe befriends Terry Lennox, a troubled drinker with a rich wife, and helps him out of a difficult night. When Lennox's life later collapses in scandal, Marlowe's loyalty pulls him into a case involving a famous, unstable novelist, his wife and a secretive circle of wealthy people in Southern California. Slower and more reflective than earlier books, it is about friendship, honour and disillusion. Many readers and critics regard it as Chandler's finest work.