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  • The Little Sister

  • Phillip Marlowe, Book 5
  • By: Raymond Chandler
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (31 ratings)

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The Little Sister

By: Raymond Chandler
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

'So you need help. What's your name and trouble?'

Private investigator Philip Marlowe's latest client is Orfamay Quest. She's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or at least that's what she tells Marlowe, offering him just 20 dollars for his trouble. Feeling charitable, Marlowe accepts - though it's not long before he wishes he hadn't. Soon the trail leads to a succession of Hollywood starlets, uppity gangsters, suspicious cops and corpses with ice picks jammed into their necks....

The Little Sister is Raymond Chandler's fifth novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.

©2005 Raymond Chandler (P)2021 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews

"Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye." (Los Angeles Times)

"Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence." (Daily Telegraph)

"One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain." (Sunday Times)

What listeners say about The Little Sister

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Twisty and Tortuous

Some great Marlowe metaphors but spoiled by the intrusive music and incredibly labyrinthine plot. Marlowe's humour is also scaled down a notch. And I don't want to hear the word "amigo" again any time soon !

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I found the inter-chapter music... jarring.

I can see why they included bits of music reminiscent of 40s-50s American radio crime dramas, but it feels out of place here, and mildly distracting. It's the only reason I'm not giving in a full 5 stars. Scott Brick does well with the voice acting and gets deep into conveying the overall loathing Marlowe (and Chandler for that matter) has for Hollywood. The story itself takes some listening to, it's a lot more twisty than most of the other Philip Marlowe novels. Well worth the listen.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

On the whole very good

... apart from the ludicrous music between chapters. Unfortunately all the current crop of Penguin Philip Marlowe books have it (including "Trouble is my business" where they have just renamed various detectives as Marlowe to screw a bit more money out of the punters).
The performance is good, and the story is still as good as it ever was.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good production and great story

I had got most of the ray porter recordings till they suddenly vanished and was hesitant to fill the holes with the new ones.... but this was good.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story. I didn’t like the narration.

I’m a big Chandler fan and I’ve read and enjoyed the book. I’ve heard and enjoyed other Chandler stories on Audible: but those were narrated by Ray Porter.
This story is narrated by Scott Brick, whose voice I found grating. He makes Marlowe into and cynical grim character and loses the wit and self-depreciation. He can’t do the different voices. Even worse, this production has a little musical Interlude at the end of each chapter, which breaks up flow. I found it irritating.

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4 people found this helpful