Raymond Chandler, the creator of the Phillip Marlowe character, died in 1959. However, his estate enlisted the help of authors worldwide to ensure that more stories involving Marlowe continued to be told. Benjamin Melville (operating under the pseudonym Benjamin Black) was one of the authors whose help the family enlisted. The result of that partnership is The Black-Eyed Blonde, published in 2014.
Black's novel follows the previously mentioned Marlowe, who is asked to find a young woman's former lover, a man named Nico Peterson. Business is slow, so Marlowe agrees to help the young woman. Marlowe discovers more to the story as his investigation progresses than Nico's disappearance. Marlowe uncovers a web of conspiracies that involves the rich and powerful in his native California. In the end, Marlowe discovers that Nico was murdered by a wealthy family who aimed to protect their fortune.
The Black-Eyed Blonde enjoyed very positive reviews when it was published in 2014. Mark Lawson of The Guardian enjoyed the novel, writing that "John Banville's convincing imitation of Raymond Chandler's literary detective brings to mind an older Humphrey Bogart." Olen Steinhauer of The New York Times felt less warm about the novel but enjoyed it. In his review of the book, Steinhauer said that "despite [his] complaints [he] found "The Black-Eyed Blonde" entertaining, and any fan of Chandler's work is going to enjoy it."
