For our first May issue in 2017, we went with a mystery theme.

One of the books I reviewed for that issue was The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

It seems fitting as we celebrate Mystery Month this year to review the final book in the Phillip Marlowe series, Perchance to Dream by Robert B. Parker.

Chandler helped usher in the era of the hard-boiled detective with his character, Phillip Marlowe, who makes his first appearance in The Big Sleep.

When Chandler died in 1959, he was working on Poodle Springs, the eighth Phillip Marlowe novel. The four completed chapters were published in Raymond Chandler Speaking in 1962 with the title, “Poodle Springs Story.”

In 1988, for what would have been Chandler’s 100th birthday, Robert B. Parker was commissioned by Chandler’s publishers to complete Poodle Springs. Parker, a fan of Chandler, understood Marlowe’s character. After the publication of Poodle Springs in 1989, Robert B. Parker secured permission from Chandler's estate to write a final novel featuring Philip Marlowe. Perchance to Dream, the sequel to The Big Sleep was released in 1991.

Parker mixed excerpts from The Big Sleep throughout the story to help tie in the original work. Seeing Chandler’s words mixed with Parker’s is surreal. They match in tone and intensity. The Big Sleep was published in 1939; it contains elements of sexism and racism that were accepted in that era. The sequel takes place a few years later, and Parker manages to avoid many of these questionable characterizations of women and minorities while still staying true to Chandler’s writing style.

In Perchance to Dream, Private Investigator Phillip Marlowe is once again called to the home of General Guy Sternwood. In the years that have passed since Marlowe was hired by Sternwood to find his daughter Vivian’s missing husband, Sternwood has passed away leaving Vivian in charge of his estate and responsible for her mentally unbalanced sister, Carmen. This time Marlowe is being hired by Mr. Norris the butler. Sternwood’s devoted servant was generously rewarded in Sternwood’s will and he was given lifetime employment to take care of the estate and watch over Vivian and Carmen.

Carmen is missing from the posh sanitarium, Resthaven run by Dr. Claude Bonsentir and only Norris seems concerned. Vivian tells Marlowe her boyfriend Eddie Mars is looking for Carmen and tries to persuade him from looking into Carmen’s disappearance. The police seem to be powerless to intervene and when Marlowe questions Dr. Bonsentir, he insists Carmen is at Resthaven, but too mentally unstable to have visitors.

When several pieces of a young woman’s dismembered body are found, a homicide investigator asks Marlowe to view the partial corpse to possibly determine if it could be Carmen. A matchbook with the Sternwood’s phone number scrawled inside was found in the purse dumped with the body parts.

Relieved to learn Carmen isn’t the murder victim, Marlowe is faced with the possibilities that Carmen is involved in the murder or she could be in danger.

In typical Marlowe fashion, his smart mouth and quick wit get him in and out of trouble and he runs into a few fists along the way.

Parker’s Marlowe interjects more humor into his witty banter, and he shows greater restraint. His character has evolved since The Big Sleep. His character growth is believable; he hasn’t lost his snarky personality, but now he knows how far he can go with it in any situation. I recommend reading both books in order and remember the time period they are set in.

Speaking of reading during mystery month, be sure to check out the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker (40 novels), the Jesse Stone series (9 novels), the Sunny Randall Series (6 novels) and 4 Westerns featuring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The final three books in the Spenser series were published after Parker’s death in 2010. Book 41 in the Spenser series, Silent Night, was completed by Parker’s literary agent, Helen Brann.

Photo Credits:

Image of Robert B. Parker: By Manchester (N.H.) Library - https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterlibrary/4294103316/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9398276

Book Cover image: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26432237

Selected Books by Robert B. Parker:

The Spenser Series:

Silent Night (2013)

Sixkill (2011)

Painted Ladies (2010)

The Professional (2009)

Chasing the Bear (2009)                 

Rough weather (2008)

Now and Then (2007)

Hundred Dollar Baby (2006)

School Days (2005)

Cold Service (2005)

Bad Business (2004)

Back Story (2003)

Widow’s Walk (2002)

Potshot (2001)

Hugger Mugger (2000)

Hush Money (1999)

Silent Mischief (1998)

Small Vices (1997)

Chance (1996)

Thin Air (1995)

Walking Shadow (1994)

Paper Doll (1993)

Double Deuce (1992)

Pastime (1991)

Stardust (1990)

Playmates (1989)

Crimson Joy (1988)

Pale Kings and Princes (1987)

Taming a Sea-Horse (1986)

A Catskill Eagle (1985)

Valediction (1984)

Love and Glory (1983)

The Widening Gyre (1983)

Ceremony (1982)

A Savage Place (1981)

Early Autumn (1980)

Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980)

Wilderness (1980)

The Judas Goat (1978)

Promised Land (1976)

Mortal Stakes (1975)

God Save the Child (1974)

The Godwulf Manuscript (1973)

The Jesse Stone Series:

Split Image (2010 published posthumously)

Night and Day (2009)

Stranger in Paradise (2008)

High Profile (2007)

Sea Change (2006)

Stone Cold (2003)

Death in Paradise (2001)

Trouble in Paradise (1998)

Night Passage (1997)

The Sunny Randall Series:

Spare Change (2007)

Screen (2006)

Melancholy Baby (2004)

Shrink Rap (2002)

Perish Twice (2000)

Family Honor (1999)

The Cole & Hitch Series:

Blue-Eyed Devil (2010 published posthumously)

Brimstone (2009)

Resolution (2008)

Appaloosa (2005)