The gritty, no nonsense American detective... unsentimental about the violence they face, but few could take it or dish it out like Marlow. Behind the snappy come-backs and hard drinking, a philosophical and contemplative man who is rarely fooled by the "Dames" he encounters.

"Get this, and get it straight: Crime is a sucker's road, and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave."