Marlowe is a detective in 1930s Los Angeles. He’s in his mid-thirties, six-feet tall, weighs 195 pounds, and has dark hair and brown eyes. Marlowe is attractive to women despite the downtrodden attitude he likes to project. Although he’s confronted with the seamier side of humanity on a daily basis, Marlowe retains a personal code of ethics.

The P.I. narrates all the stories in this collection with a wry sense of humor that displays both cynicism and hope. He’s suspicious of the motives of clients and criminals but still has the capacity to recognize innocence and decency in others when he sees it. Above all else, Marlowe is determined to find the truth. His task is frequently impeded by malefactors who come from the upper ranks of society and are used to getting away with murder. Against impossible odds, Marlowe always manages to solve his cases. 

• Mr. Jeeter—Jeeter is an elderly millionaire who hires Marlowe to prevent his stepson from dating a fortune hunter. In reality, Jeeter is so greedy that he tries to murder his own adopted child, collect the boy’s inheritance, and blame the crime on the fortune hunter. He suffers a stroke at the end of the story but is never prosecuted.