[BBC Radio Full Cast Drama starring Toby Stephens] Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the 40s and 50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. Derace Kingsley, a wealthy businessman, hires Marlowe to find his estranged wife Crystal, fearing that she may have got herself into a scandal. Rich, pretty, spoiled, and reckless, Crystal is all kinds of trouble rolled into one as far as Marlowes concerned, but he agrees to take the case and heads to Kingsleys vacation home in Little Fawn Lake to find the lady. And sure enough, one turns updrowned and almost unrecognizable except for her clothes and jewelry. But theres a snag: the body is identified as Muriel Chess, the caretakers wife. With Crystal still missing and corpses turning up wherever he goes, the case soon turns into one of the toughest Marlowes ever encountered.Starring Toby Stephens, this thrilling dramatization perfectly evokes the atmosphere of Chandlers fast-paced, absorbing novel.