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The Black Eyed Blonde

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The Black Eyed Blonde

By: Benjamin Black
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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About this listen

In this gripping and deeply evocative crime novel, Benjamin Black returns us to the dark, mesmerising world of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and his detective Philip Marlowe; one of the most iconic and enduringly popular detectives in crime fiction.

Now a major film, Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger.

It is the early 1950s. In Los Angeles, Private Detective Philip Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and business is a little slow. Then a new client arrives: young, beautiful, and expensively dressed, Clare Cavendish wants Marlowe to find her former lover.

Soon Marlowe will find himself not only under the spell of the Black-Eyed Blonde; but tangling with one of Bay City’s richest families – and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune...

©2014 Benjamin Black (P)2014 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd Detective Fiction Historical Modern Detectives Mystery Private Investigators Suspense Traditional Detectives

Critic Reviews

"When I heard that Benjamin Black, aka the Man Booker-winner John Banville, had taken on the job, I felt the Chandler estate had plumped for the right man. Like Chandler, Banville sweats over his sentences. And although the avowed model for Banville/Black’s crime fiction is Simenon, there is a great deal of Marlowe in his lonely, quixotic protagonist Quirke ... The plot is dead right ... The voice is spot on too" (Daily Telegraph)
“If anything, oddly, the book is probably better than an actual Chandler: more coherent, and more consistent, more careful. Banville is simply a more elegant writer. Chandler was a metaphorical rogue trader; Banville is a class act... This is perfect Mr Banville” (New Statesman)

What listeners say about The Black Eyed Blonde

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Profile Image for Earnest

Very pleasant to amble along with the story.

Loved the more lyrical tones given by Banville to the Chandleresque storyline. I feel that any plot simplification is not the writer’s problem! His literary novels are beautiful things.
A word of gratefulness to the voice actor and the production team. No annoying ambient breathing. And thanks for not doing “whining” voices for female characters and for not really trying accents. Felt mid Atlantic enough.

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Profile Image for ELIZABETH

Fun

Well-crafted homage to Chandler. Not as good as Chandler's best, but better than his worst. Nice characters and scenario. Denouement too obviously foreshadowed. Convincingly read.

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