
Only to Sleep
A Philip Marlowe Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ray Porter
-
By:
-
Lawrence Osborne
Lawrence Osborne brings one of literature’s most enduring detectives back to life - as Private Investigator Philip Marlowe returns for one last adventure.
Named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review and NPR
Nominated for the Edgar and Shamus awards
The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. And Philip Marlowe - now in his 72nd year - is living out his retirement in the terrace bar of the La Fonda hotel. Sipping margaritas, playing cards, his silver-tipped cane at the ready. When in saunter two men dressed like undertakers, with a case that has his name written all over it.
For Marlowe, this is his last roll of the dice, his swan song. His mission is to investigate the death of Donald Zinn - supposedly drowned off his yacht, and leaving behind a much younger and now very rich wife. But is Zinn actually alive? Are the pair living off the spoils?
Set between the border and badlands of Mexico and California, Lawrence Osborne’s resurrection of the iconic Marlowe is an unforgettable addition to the Raymond Chandler canon.
Praise for Only to Sleep:
“A new case for Philip Marlowe and - have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables - it crackles.” (The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice))
“Brilliant. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match.” (William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart)
“A Marlowe we at once know, but have never met before. As much a meditation on aging and memory as it is a crime thriller.” (Los Angeles Times)
“It’s the kind of book where, when you read it, it turns the world to black and white for a half-hour afterward. It leaves you with the taste of rum and blood in your mouth. It hangs with you like a scar.” (NPR)
©2018 Lawrence Osborne (P)2018 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Osborne, an accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction, has been asked to imagine a new case for Philip Marlowe and - have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables - it crackles." (New York Times Book Review)
"Only to Sleep admirably sidesteps the pitfalls of Chandler-esque pastiche...in its place, a Marlowe we at once know, but have never met before. As much a meditation on aging and memory as it is a crime thriller." (LA Times)
"Brilliant.... Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match." (William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart and Solo: A James Bond Novel)
People who viewed this also viewed...





Lacking Research on Mexico
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ray Porter is spot on!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Multiple voices
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The not-so-genuine article
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written, and delivered with a perfect cadence by Ray Porter.
Excellent all round.
True to spirit & character!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not Chandler, But a Damned Good Marlowe
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fabulous
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Better than the other non Chandler books about Marlowe
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
do the sun baked spaces of southern california hold a romantic allure for you ?
well, lawrence osborne's "Only to Sleep" has eloquently re-created that world for you
an honorable and lonely man is on an adventure, in search of a hidden truth
the work of an aging private investigator is the scaffold on which that adventure hangs
the tough minded detachment of our detective is both compelling and amusing
this honest and common man is an enduring modern fictional hero for a reason
as jeremiah 17:9 predicted long ago "... the heart is deceitful above all things ..."
if a new twist on that ancient saying intrigues you, then this is a book for you
untarnished / unafraid
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In my opinion, this flows almost seamlessly from late Chandler. I got a little hung up on age (if Marlowe was 33 in 1936, how could he be 72 in 1988?) but that was really the only thing that stuck out as a raw edge. This Marlowe has seen a lot of bad things and remembers them, and while he doesn’t have the capacity for frequent work, he yearns to be useful again.
There’s something heartbreaking and haunting for me about seeing Marlowe as an old man who is now mostly memories. As a huge Chandler fan, that was a little difficult for me, but this is so well done and Ray Porter gives an excellent performance.
Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.