The Goodbye Coast

'Private eye Philip Marlowe is transplanted into 21st-century Los Angeles in this tongue-in-cheek tribute to the classic works of Raymond Chandler. . . The wisecracking dialogue, outlandish characters and vicious slapstick make The Goodbye Coast a joy to read from the very first page'
The Times

'A terrific read - pacy, with tension, pathos, wonderful descriptions of LA and some lovely one-liners'
Guardian

'Sunshine and skullduggery, movie stars and mayhem - Joe Ide brings us Philip Marlowe who wears our twenty-first century like a well-cut suit'
Ian Rankin

'How the hell do you write a mystery about Philip Marlowe, set it in Los Angeles, and still make it a total gobsmacking original? That's the miracle of Joe Ide's The Goodbye Coast. Ide has created a Philip Marlowe for the 2020s'
James Patterson

'Not so much a reimagining of Chandler's world as a reinvigoration. By transplanting Philip Marlowe to 2021 LA, Joe Ide has chiseled off the rust while keeping the soul of one of American fiction's icons. The Goodbye Coast is a blast from start to finish'
Dennis Lehane

The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler's detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles

Los Angeles - a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality and washed-out police.

Roaming the city streets is Philip Marlowe: a quiet, lonely, remarkably capable private detective, living beneath the shadow of his father - a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective now drinking his life away.

Marlowe's latest client is tyrannical starlet Kendra James. Kendra's husband was fatally shot near their Malibu home, but even though that murder remains unresolved, the actress is more interested in tracking down her 17-year-old stepdaughter, who hasn't been seen for weeks.

But things get complicated after Marlowe lands a second missing person search from British academic Ren Stewart, whose ex-husband has kidnapped their seven-year-old son.

Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide's The Goodbye Coast is a bold recreation that is viciously funny, ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender.