Playback

Playback is a short and lean novel adapted from one of Raymond Chandler’s rejected screenplays. Set in San Diego — Chandler at this point had been away from Los Angeles for 12 years — Marlowe is hired by an anonymous client to find a missing woman, only to discover she needs more help than his client. While the book has one of Chandler’s most implausible plots, Marlowe has some funny lines:

Somebody who loved me very much had put ice cubes on the back of my head. Somebody who loved me less had bashed in the back of my brain. It could have been the same person. People have moods. 

Recommended.