Only to Sleep

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Wealthy dead American. Beautiful young widow. This case has PI Philip Marlowe’s name written all over it. Is it enough to bring him back for one last adventure?

The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is living out his retirement sipping margaritas and playing cards when in saunter two men dressed like undertakers with a case that has his name written all over it.

His mission is to investigate Donald Zinn – supposedly drowned off his yacht, leaving a much younger and now very rich wife. Marlowe’s speciality. But is Zinn actually alive? And are the pair living off the spoils?

'Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match' William Boyd

Discover the rest of the inimitable Philip Marlowe series – nine classic Chandler adventures, from The Big Sleep to The Long Goodbye, available now in paperback and ebook from Penguin Books.

A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive… I loved it
John Gray, New Statesman, **Books of the Year**

About Lawrence Osborne

Lawrence Osborne is a critically acclaimed novelist, journalist, and screenwriter based in Bangkok. He is the author of eight novels, including Ballad of a Small Player, Beautiful Animals, and The Forgiven. His non-fiction ranges from memoir through travelogue to essays, including Bangkok Days, The Naked Tourist and The Wet and the Dry. His novels have been chosen as Books of the Year by the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph, the New Statesman, the Daily Mail, The Economist, The New Yorker and the New York Times. The Forgiven was made into a film in 2022 starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes and Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton was released on Netflix in 2025.

Details

Series: Philip Marlowe
Imprint: Vintage
Published: 04/07/2019
ISBN: 9781784706371
Length: 256 pages
Dimensions: 198mm x 16mm x 129mm
Weight: 181g
Price: £9.99

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Only to Sleep

Format:

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A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive… I loved it

Splendid

A brilliant Raymond Chandler continuation novel with an ageing Philip Marlowe. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match

It's a joy to see Philip Marlowe lured back for one last job by the gleefully unsentimental Lawrence Osborne... If you like noir, pour yourself something cool and enjoy one final dark night of the soul

The decayed grandeur of the setting, the mystery of an alluring femme fatale, an old man's tussle with his conscience and his ageing body, and a healthy number of spectacular set-pieces work a subtle magic... both a convincing Marlowe and a seedily satisfying thriller

This is the best Marlowe novel I have read apart from the master's own works... it's the only one I can imagine Chandler liking

Osborne succeeds brilliantly... captures the dreamlike quality of the original Marlowe novels

Superb... Osborne's dialogue and description echo Chandler's wit and world-weariness with uncanny skill

An exhilarating talent...one of our finest writers

Lawrence Osborne, an accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction, has been asked to imagine a new case for Philip Marlow and -- have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables -- it crackles...brisk and disarming

About Lawrence Osborne

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