Philip Marlowe (Denise Mina) Books in Order

Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s iconic private eye, has been revived a few times since his creator’s death. In The Second Murderer, Denise Mina adds her own authorised chapter to his story, keeping the smoky Los Angeles mood while nudging the character into a more modern conversation.

The novel opens in a sweltering late‑summer Los Angeles. Marlowe is summoned to the Montgomery mansion in Beverly Hills and hired to find twenty‑two‑year‑old heiress Chrissie Montgomery, who walked away after her engagement party. Her dying father and his polished girlfriend insist she’s a vulnerable innocent; Marlowe isn’t so sure.

He quickly discovers that Chrissie is neither lost nor helpless. She has slipped into an art gallery under a new name and is wrestling with how much of her life has been bought and arranged for her. At the same time, an all‑female detective agency run by Anne Riordan—last seen as a capable ally in Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely—has also been hired to track her down.

As bodies begin to surface, the case reaches from Hollywood gloss to skid‑row flophouses and cheap hotels. Mina plays with familiar tropes—cops on the take, studio hangers‑on, smoky bars—while letting women drive much of the plot, from Chrissie herself to Anne and the other investigators.

Marlowe is still sardonic and stubborn, but he’s forced to recognise that the women around him are not just dames in distress or dangerous distractions.

For readers, this mini‑series entry offers a way to step back into Chandler’s world without needing to reread all the originals first. It can be enjoyed as a standalone 1940s mystery or as part of the larger Marlowe canon, and this page keeps it clearly labelled within Mina’s own body of work.