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Only to Sleep
- A Philip Marlowe Novel
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
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)
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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)
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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The Magus
- By: John Fowles
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 26 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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John Fowles’s The Magus was a literary landmark of the 1960s. Nicholas Urfe goes to a Greek island to teach at a private school and becomes enmeshed in curious happenings at the home of a mysterious Greek recluse, Maurice Conchis. Are these events, involving attractive young English sisters, just psychological games, or an elaborate joke, or more? Reality shifts as the story unfolds. The Magus reflected the issues of the 1960s perfectly, and it continues to create tension and concern today.
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One of the best novels that I really think I hate.
- By Darwin8u on 01-29-14
By: John Fowles
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The Merlot Murders
- A Wine Country Mystery
- By: Ellen Crosby
- Narrated by: P. J. Davis-Oran
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Lucie Montgomery's semi-estranged brother, Eli, calls her in France to tell her that their father, Leland, has been killed in a hunting accident on the family's 500-acre Virginia vineyard. But the vineyard is now shabby and run-down and her siblings want to sell it. Then Lucie's godfather tells her Leland's death was no accident. With her greedy brother, hell-raising sister, and a seemingly cut-rate vintner hired by Leland just before he died, all the suspects are disturbingly close to home.
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Wine & history w/ your mystery!
- By Cracker1951 on 03-27-08
By: Ellen Crosby
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Wind/Pinball
- Two Novels
- By: Haruki Murakami, Ted Goossen - translator
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels—Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973—that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. These powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age—the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat—are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. They bear all the hallmarks of Murakami’s later books, and form the first two-thirds, with A Wild Sheep Chase, of the trilogy of the Rat.
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FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY: Extra Ball at 600,000 points
- By Darwin8u on 08-12-15
By: Haruki Murakami, and others
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One of Those Malibu Nights
- By: Elizabeth Adler
- Narrated by: Julie Briskman
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Mac Reilly is a P.I. with a penchant for lost causes. One night in Malibu, he comes to the rescue of a distraught woman holding a gun in the doorway of a fabulous beach house. When the woman disappears and the gun shows up in his car, Mac is pulled into a web of deception and lies.
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DNF
- By NightRunner on 08-14-21
By: Elizabeth Adler
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The Keys to the Street
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
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Mystery with humor and insight
- By Ida Hagman on 10-02-12
By: Ruth Rendell
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The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Set against a backdrop of jazz music, bootlegging, and lavish parties, The Great Gatsby is the story of Midwesterner Nick Carraway’s curious introduction to the decadent world of his mysterious, wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby, whose thirst for riches is matched only by his tragic obsession with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. This dangerously propulsive tale of glitz and glamour continues to be relevant as listeners long for escapist novels—a chance to flee into Gatsby’s famed mansion and lose oneself in the rush of opulence.
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Alive and Wild! I finished it same day.
- By Brea DeMarquee on 08-27-21
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Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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The Talented Mr. Ripley
- By: Patricia Highsmith
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley becomes enamored of the moneyed world of his new friend, Dickie Greenleaf. This fondness turns obsessive when Ripley is sent to Italy to bring back his libertine pal, but he grows enraged by Dickie's ambivalent feelings for Marge, a charming American dilettante.
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Patricia, Phil, and Pathology
- By Mel on 04-24-13
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Fragile Things
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Marvelous creations, including a short story set in the world of The Matrix and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction, can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his entertaining (and dark) sense of humor.
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Perhaps a different format?
- By Karen on 11-03-10
By: Neil Gaiman
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Death in Zanzibar
- By: M. M. Kaye
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Dany Ashton is invited to vacation at her stepfather's house in Zanzibar, but even before her airplane takes off there is a stolen passport, a midnight intruder - and murder. In Zanizbar, the family house is Kivulimi, the mysterious "House of Shade", where Dany and the rest of the guests learn that one of them is a desperate killer. The air of freedom and nonchalance that opened the house party fades into growing terror, as the threat of futher violence flowers in the scented air of Zanzibar.
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Old Favorite Now in Audio
- By Marie on 01-13-13
By: M. M. Kaye
What listeners say about Only to Sleep
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- greg
- 07-13-19
Lacking Research on Mexico
Some of the locations it appears that the author never been too and did not have a grasp of the location.
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- ryan rehl
- 05-13-24
Better than the other non Chandler books about Marlowe
it was better than the horrible other books not written by Chandler but still only okay.
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- cary austin
- 08-10-18
Ray Porter is spot on!
This is great story and Ray Porter nails Philip Marlowe! I loved how they described the atmosphere of the cities on Mexican coastline.
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7 people found this helpful
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- TPKinCA
- 10-13-18
Multiple voices
Ray Porter sounds a bit like Tom Hanks. He is especially talented at reading text in multiple voices or parts. That made it easy to understand which character said what as the story unfolds. While the story is meant to be evocative of Raymond Chandler, it doesn't reach that height. However, there is a fascinating journey throughout a large part of Mexico within the story. Well, worth listening to.
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- JSP
- 05-20-24
The not-so-genuine article
Imitation may be sincere flattery, but not usually good literature. The style is Chandleresque, but without the streetwise touch, while the real Marlowe also managed to maintain a core of integrity. Disappointingly, no real denouement.
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- Danny S. Jones
- 03-10-20
True to spirit & character!
Great look into Marlowe’s waning years. Pulled from retirement for one last mystery.
Well written, and delivered with a perfect cadence by Ray Porter.
Excellent all round.
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- Reader
- 12-12-18
Not Chandler, But a Damned Good Marlowe
As a major admirer of Raymond Chandler and his Philip Marlowe novels, I really enjoyed this addition to the series. While I could discern that it was not Chandler at times, there were so many moments and passages which made me feel as though Raymond Chandler truly had written this work. It has the essence of Philip Marlowe and reads like a novel that Chandler might have penned had he lived a good while longer, and for that alone I highly recommend this book. Lawrence Osborne did a tremendous job with it.
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- GioSailor
- 05-12-24
Fabulous
I really enjoyed this one. A very well written story with interesting locales and characters. It has unexpected poetic and Zen like vibe. The narration performance quality is also particularly immersive and adds to the enjoyment.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-08-18
untarnished / unafraid
does the detached, hard-boiled fiction of raymond chandler fascinate you ?
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
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4 people found this helpful
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- R. G. Shalhoub
- 07-28-18
Brilliant resurrection of greatest detective in US fiction
Lawrence Osborne was an excellent choice by the Chandler Foundation to resurrect Marlowe. The book succeeds at every level w a bonus of beautiful literary riffs every few pages....historically and geographically accurate...as Marlowe/Chandlers voice rings true. The eccentric gumshoe comes out of retirement in Southern CA for one last job at age 72 into a sleazy and violent world of hustlers and grifters operating on the coastal towns in Southern California and Northern Mexico. Ray Porter shines as the voice of a worldly and articulate Marlowe while deftly handling accents and pronunciations of the credible characters that appear. As a 72 year old Chandler fan who is well traveled in the Mexican locations where most of the novel’s action takes place I particular enjoyed this brilliant resurrection of my favorite private eye by one of my favorite writers.
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17 people found this helpful