Imagined crossover · Private eyes
What if Philip Marlowe met Sam Spade?
The founders of the hardboiled private eye. The two great private eyes of American noir, both cynical, both honest in their own way.
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The pair
Philip MarloweLos Angeles private investigatorBy Raymond Chandler · Philip Marlowe · first in The Big Sleep
Chemistry7/10
Friction7/10
Would you read this crossover?
Where and when
San Francisco and Los Angeles
The 1930s
The story
- How they might meet
- A client who skipped out on Spade in San Francisco turns up in Los Angeles and hires Marlowe, and Spade drives south to collect.
- Why they would work
- The two great private eyes of American noir, both cynical, both honest in their own way.
- What each brings
- Marlowe has a knight’s sense of honour and a poet’s eye; Spade has a gambler’s nerve and no illusions at all.
- Where they would clash
- Spade will cut any deal that suits him; Marlowe would rather take a beating than sell out a client.
Strengths compared
Philip Marlowe Sam Spade
Our own ratings out of 10, for fun.
On the page together
The years in which each character's books were published.
Read your way in
Start with each character's first appearance.
- The Big SleepRaymond Chandler · 1939 · Philip Marlowe's first appearanceBuy on Amazon
- The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett · 1930 · Sam Spade's first appearanceBuy on Amazon
