From: Helen Krummenacker avona@jps.net

Now I really wonder if you aren't a closet character junkie. Chandler didn't think much of his own plotting abilities, but liked giving the hard-boiled detective fiction a literary boost and put a lot into the character of Marlowe. <g>

Yes, but there's also a lot of social commentary, background detail and wonderfully evocative descriptions. Marlowe is a figure in a beautifully rendered landscape. I far prefer that to a beautifully rendered figure against a blank screen.

Neil