Why Marlowe is still the chief of detectives. Fifty years after Raymond Chandler died, we need his 'shop-soiled' Galahad Philip Marlowe as much as ever to put our mixed-up world to rights. by Mick Hume ... 'I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country', says Marlowe in a crisis: 'What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and left the room.' When Chandler died 50 years ago on 26 March 1959, The Times ...
