The Marble Orchard: A Novel Featuring the Black Mask Boys : Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner

The Black Mask Boys #2

by William F. Nolan

Mystery fiction's legendary trio, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Erle Stanley Gardner, are back as amateur detectives, following their dynamic, critically acclaimed debut in The Black Mask Murders. Here they interact in a complex, colorful, and ultimately dangerous adventure, a richly textured thriller that also celebrates the joys of love and marriage between Chandler and his exceptional wife, Cissy.
As narrated by Chandler, the adventure begins in East Los Angeles with the discovery of what is apparently the ritual suicide of Cissy's former husband in a Chinese cemetery. Action moves swiftly from the coastal splendors of the Hearst castle, to the abandoned canals of Venice by the Sea, to an ornate hotel on Coronado Island, to the rococo Victorian mansions of Bunker Hill.
The characters are equally a mysterious screen star known to millions as the Vampire Queen, a concert pianist who discovers surprising romance, an ex-stage actor with a penchant for using his fists, a missing sister who prefers to stay missing, and a pair of muscle-bound punks who don't balk at kidnapping and murder.

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

William F. Nolan is best known as the co-author (with George Clayton Johnson) of Logan's Run -- a science fiction novel that went on to become a movie, a television series and is about to become a movie again -- and as single author of its sequels. His short stories have been selected for scores of anthologies and textbooks and he is twice winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Nolan was born in 1928 in Kansas City Missouri. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as an artist for Hallmark Cards. He moved to California in the late 1940s and studied at San Diego State College. He began concentrating on writing rather than art and, in 1952, was introduced by fellow Missouri native (and established writer) Ray Bradbury to another young up-and-coming author, Charles Beaumont. Moving to the Los Angeles area in 1953, Nolan became along with Bradbury, Beaumont, and Richard Matheson part of the "inner core" of the soon-to-be highly influential "Southern California Group" of writers. By 1956 Nolan was a full-time writer. Since 1951 he has sold more than 1500 stories, articles, books, and other works.

Although Nolan wrote roughly 2000 pieces, to include biographies, short stories, poetry, and novels, Logan’s Run retains its hold on the public consciousness as a political fable and dystopian warning. As Nolan has stated: “That I am known at all is still astonishing to me... "

He passed away at the age of 93 due to complications from an infection.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent thriller, written in the hard-boiled style, that successfully mixes real characters with a fictional plot. The three main characters on the side of the goodies are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Erle Stanley Gardner with the first named taking the lead role and being the narrator of the piece. In addition there are cameo appearances by such as William Randolph Hearst, Shirley Temple, Charlie Chaplin, Hedda Hopper and Orson Welles.

The action takes place in Los Angeles where what appears to be a ritual suicide (of Cissy Chandler's first husband) in a Chinese cemetery is discovered. The police accept the suicide scenario but, Raymio, as Chandler was known to his loving wife Cissy, does not believe it. So he begins to investigate.

His first port of call is a once upon a time actress Carmilla Blastok, real name Letty Knibbs, who starred in a series of feature films about vampires and as such she had earned the nickname of 'The Vampire Queen' [I can't believe I am reading a second book in 2015 that touches on a vampire theme!).

She is very evasive and in addition is insisting on saying that she is looking for her sister and she employs Chandler, who stresses that he is a writer not a private detective, to find her. He is assisted by his two writer pals, Hammett and Gardner and they find themselves involved with a whole host of disreputable characters, who try to harm them or even bump them off.

But they are resilient to the point of eventually overcoming all adversity and getting to the, what turns out to be surprising, root of the problem. And all through Cissy lovingly gives her support to Raymio, who takes great delight in spending time with his beloved cat, Taki.

There is an added bonus in that the author writes a most engaging afterword, explaining the philosophy of the 'Black Mask Boys' series and giving some background to the characters and locations used in the story.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd in a series. Nolan writes as if Raymond Chandler is telling the story. He captures the thinking and phrasing of Chandler better than anyone else I have read. I liked this so much I quickly read the next one in the series.

[Sally Sugarman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Black Mask series featuring Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Erle Stanley Gardner. This book is narrated by Chandler and the style is quite different from Hammett’s narration. It is Chandler becoming Chandler. It is more detailed and thoughtful. Nolan doesn’t overdo it and try to show the unique writing style of Chandler, but you can see that he is on the way. Central to the story is Chandler’s relationship to his beloved Cissy who was older than he was and the love of his life. The victim is Julian Pascal, Cissy’s first husband, a composer, and a good friend to both Chandler and Cissy. He seems to have committed suicide in a Chinese cemetery. When Chandler tells this to Cissy, she insists he would not have committed suicide and that Raymond must find out what really happened. Thus begins Chandler’s investigations which leads him into some dangerous places with dangerous people On the way of course, he has his two buddies to help him out. When Chandler wants to talk to a witness who only speaks Cantonese, he calls on Erle Stanley Gardner who speaks Cantonese because he learned it to deal with his Chinese law clients. On the way Chandler meets the usual assortment of celebrities, Orson Wells, William Randolph Hearst, Hedda Hopper, Shirley Temple and others, many of thanks to Hammett. One of the more essential people is a woman who was a vampire star who hires Chandler to find her sister or that is what she says. There are wonderful plot complications with Dash making strawberry sundaes for the three of them so they can figure out the various situations. What is the most vital part of this story is that you know all along that it is Chandler’s voice you are hearing.

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three writer-detectives reunite in 1936 in a story as told by Raymond Chandler revolving around the death of his wife's ex-husband. It is a bit strange to have the 52-year old Dashiell Hammett and the 48-year old Raymond Chandler jumping through windows and generally chasing about like this (the question of age is carefully swept under the rug by the way), but still great fun. The legendary Hollywood Vampire Queen, Carmilla Blastok, plays a large role in this one.

[Aj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raymond Chandler In The Marble Orchard revisits the Famed "Black Mask Boys" series that began in 1944. The Black Mask Boys were: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner. William F. Nolan recaptures the feeling and spirit of those thrilling days of yesteryear when pulp was king and even the writers had their own capers going. Want to see how pulp is done from one of the masters of that fabled era? look no further.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up from the library because it featured Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett and Earl Stanley Gardner as buddies. It was a fun mystery romp through 1930's Los Angeles.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was kinda funny and campy...