The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Philip Marlowe Novel (34 page)

Others to whom I owe warm thanks are: María Fasce Ferri, Rodrigo Fresan, Graham C. Greene and the Estate of Raymond Chandler, Dr. Gregory Page, Maria Rejt, Fiona Ruane, John Sterling, and my manuscript editor nonpareil, Bonnie Thompson.

Finally, warm thanks to my brother, Vincent Banville, who introduced me to Marlowe, and whose own crime novels showed me how it could be done.

ALSO BY BENJAMIN BLACK

Holy Orders

Vengeance

A Death in Summer

Elegy for April

The Silver Swan

Christine Falls

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

B
ENJAMIN
B
LACK
is the pen name of the Man Booker Prize–winning novelist John Banville. The author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed series of Quirke novels—including
Christine Falls, Vengeanc
e
,
and
Holy Orders
—he lives in Dublin.

T
HE
B
LACK-
E
YED
B
LONDE
. Copyright © 2014 by John Banville Inc. and Raymond Chandler Limited. All rights reserved. For information, address Henry Holt and Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.henryholt.com

Cover art © Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Black, Benjamin, 1945–

     The black-eyed blonde: a Philip Marlowe novel / Benjamin Black. — First edition.

        pages  cm

     ISBN: 978-0-8050-9814-3 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-8050-9815-0 (electronic copy)   1.  Marlowe, Philip (Fictitious character)—Fiction.   2.  Missing persons—Fiction.   3.  Social classes—Fiction.   4.  California—Fiction.   I.  Title.

     PR6052.A57B59 2014

First Edition: March 2014

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.