The Goodbye Coast: A Philip Marlowe Novel

In this uneven detective novel, Thriller Award finalist Ide (the IQ series) reimagines Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled sleuth, Philip Marlowe, as a contemporary PI. When the rebellious Marlowe doesn’t last long on the police force, his father, a veteran LAPD cop, helps him get his start as an investigator. Marlowe’s latest client is megastar actor Kendra James, who hires him six weeks after her husband was fatally shot near their Malibu home. Though that murder’s unsolved, Kendra doesn’t want Marlowe to take a crack at it, instead asking him to trace her 17-year-old stepdaughter, who hasn’t been seen for weeks. Despite his distaste for the unpleasant Kendra, Marlowe takes the case. Things get complicated after he lands a second missing person search from British academic Ren Stewart, whose ex-husband has kidnapped their seven-year-old son. Ide’s fans will appreciate the humor and evocative descriptions of L.A., but Chandler purists may miss the intimate first-person narration of the originals and not care for the attempt to deepen the lone wolf character of Marlowe by giving him a complicated relationship with his father. Not everyone will be looking forward to a sequel. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM Partners. (Feb.)