Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's third novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the quintessential urban private eye (Los Angeles Times).
A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune--the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.
Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude. Erle Stanley Gardner
Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement. --The New York Times
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