The Goodbye Coast

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.

'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

'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

ISBN: 9781474614696 | Published: 1 February 2022 | Trade paperback | 320 pages