The Second Murderer by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker, £18.99)
Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is reimagined by Mina in a novel that also includes Anne Riordan, who aficionados will remember from Chandler’s 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely, the working title of which was the same as this book. Here, Marlowe is tasked with tracking down Chrissie, only child of stratospherically rich sadist Chadwick Montgomery. The monstrous patriarch isn’t too bothered about being reunited with his daughter – she’s given him a legitimate grandson, so succession is assured – and Marlowe, who finds the young woman quickly, isn’t keen to return her. Matters are complicated by the fact that Riordan, now a professional rival, is also on the case, and because the next time Marlowe sees Chrissie she is standing over a corpse in a Skid Row hotel room. Mina, who is a considerably more efficient plotter than Chandler, remains true to his tone and to Marlowe’s character, while cleaning up his attitude to render him more palatable to modern readers: highly recommended.
