<b>Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler&apos;s third novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (<i>Los Angeles Times</i>).</b> <br /><br />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&apos;t quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.<br /><br /> "Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude."  Erle Stanley Gardner<br /><br /> "Raymond Chandler has given us a detective who is hard-boiled enough to be convincing . . . and that is no mean achievement." --<i>The New York Times</i>