This week I finished reading Poodle Springs, Raymond Chandler's last unfinished novel then later completed by Robert B. Parker and published. Our hero, PI Philip Marlowe, 42, falls in love with a rich lady, gets married, and decides to live with her in the mansion. Their suburb outside of L.A. is called Poodle Springs.

In spite of its silly title, I actually liked reading Poodle Springs. Maybe Chandler was trying to bring his crusty private eye into the real world by marrying him off. Even if, Marlowe remains fiercely independent, and he refuses to accept his new wife's money, and wants to do his PI work. This conflict doesn't bode for a healthy marriage, needless to say.

A married private eye probably has a broader reader appeal. It shows us that he's a real person who interacts with other people. It makes him more likeable and sympathetic. In fact, Marlowe is more open, showing a tender, romantic side to his persona.

Romance is a theme I find my own books using more often. My new noir, Lake Charles, for instance, includes a good and a bad romance. The protagonist experiences both kinds, and the reader cheers him on to end up with the good romance. Does he? This is noir, after all.

Does Marlowe stay with his wife? Do they work it out? Poodle Springs is a hardboiled private novel, after all. I offer no spoilers here, but by the end of the novel, I felt as if a sequel could've been written. I'd like to see where the middle-aged Marlowe went in his life and fortunes.

But, as it is, we can only bid him adieu and wish him well.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles and Quiet Anchorage