What do you think?
Rate this book
Somebody's Sister
A hard-boiled private-eye novel, introduces Private Investigator Walter Brackett. A young girl has been killed in an auto accident on the Golden Gate Bridge, and Brackett’s business card was found in the car. The police want him to make an identification.The story continues with the murder of a witness and Brackett gets more deeply involved.
159 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 1974
5 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Derek Marlowe
16 books14 followersDerek William Mario Marlowe was an English playwright, novelist, screenwriter and painter. His father was Frederick William Marlowe (an electrician) and his mother Helene Alexandroupolos. He had early education at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Holland Park.
In 1959 Marlowe went to Queen Mary College of the University of London to study English literature. Marlowe calls his time spent there the unhappiest years of his life.He never finished his degree course – Alex Hamilton claims he was expelled for "satire and kindred villainies". Marlowe wrote and edited an article for the college magazine, a parody of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye which reflected what Marlowe called "the boredom of college seminars." However, the college had a particularly fine theatre (the former People's Palace in Mile End Road) and Marlowe became part of a core theatre group there. In 1960 the college group formed a semi-professional theatre company, the 60 Theatre Group, and took their production of Tennessee Williams' play Summer and Smoke to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with Marlowe in the leading role opposite Audrey "Dickie" Gaskell.
At college, Marlowe was a contemporary of the poet Lee Harwood, and after leaving he shared a flat with fellow writers Tom Stoppard and Piers Paul Read.
He married Susan Rose "Suki" Phipps, in 1968; together they had a son, Ben, to add to Suki's two sons and two daughters from a previous marriage. He divorced in 1985 and in 1989 he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote a number of scripts for television, including the award-winning Two Mrs. Grenvilles, Abduction of Innocence and an episode of Murder, She Wrote.
While working there, he contracted leukaemia, and died of a brain haemorrhage after a liver transplant. He was cremated in California, but his ashes were brought back to England by his sister, Alda. At the time of his death he was planning to return to England and complete a tenth novel, Black and White.
Summarised from Wikipedia
In 1959 Marlowe went to Queen Mary College of the University of London to study English literature. Marlowe calls his time spent there the unhappiest years of his life.He never finished his degree course – Alex Hamilton claims he was expelled for "satire and kindred villainies". Marlowe wrote and edited an article for the college magazine, a parody of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye which reflected what Marlowe called "the boredom of college seminars." However, the college had a particularly fine theatre (the former People's Palace in Mile End Road) and Marlowe became part of a core theatre group there. In 1960 the college group formed a semi-professional theatre company, the 60 Theatre Group, and took their production of Tennessee Williams' play Summer and Smoke to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with Marlowe in the leading role opposite Audrey "Dickie" Gaskell.
At college, Marlowe was a contemporary of the poet Lee Harwood, and after leaving he shared a flat with fellow writers Tom Stoppard and Piers Paul Read.
He married Susan Rose "Suki" Phipps, in 1968; together they had a son, Ben, to add to Suki's two sons and two daughters from a previous marriage. He divorced in 1985 and in 1989 he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote a number of scripts for television, including the award-winning Two Mrs. Grenvilles, Abduction of Innocence and an episode of Murder, She Wrote.
While working there, he contracted leukaemia, and died of a brain haemorrhage after a liver transplant. He was cremated in California, but his ashes were brought back to England by his sister, Alda. At the time of his death he was planning to return to England and complete a tenth novel, Black and White.
Summarised from Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2022
Cuando vi que Harry no tenia nada que ver cerre el libro, cómo me vas a quitar ese plot twist y toda la tension que hubo anteriormente?, igual 3 estrellas por lo del perro, se aprueba
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2019
SOMEBODY’s SISTER by Derek Marlowe takes readers on a somewhat disjointed ride into complex relationships and multiple murders.
A car crash resulting in the accidental death of a young woman gets upgraded to murder when 53 year old San Francisco private eye Walter Brackett gets involved and goes looking for her identity but finds nothing but trouble along the way.
Brackett is a “transplant”. Born in England, he came to the states following WWII and, with his partner Harry Kemble, set up business/living quarters over a delicatessen called Fatty’s. Business has never really boomed and recent cases have involved nothing more exciting than locating a lost dog.
Touted as a 40’s noir type mystery and compared to the likes of James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy, and Dashiell Hammet, this one just doesn’t quite make the grade. The aforementioned gents were some of the most prolific and widely read writers of “noir” with James M. Cain being this reader’s all-time favorite.
Personally, I often found portions of Marlowe’s tome lacking in continuity and hard to follow which made it less enjoyable.
A car crash resulting in the accidental death of a young woman gets upgraded to murder when 53 year old San Francisco private eye Walter Brackett gets involved and goes looking for her identity but finds nothing but trouble along the way.
Brackett is a “transplant”. Born in England, he came to the states following WWII and, with his partner Harry Kemble, set up business/living quarters over a delicatessen called Fatty’s. Business has never really boomed and recent cases have involved nothing more exciting than locating a lost dog.
Touted as a 40’s noir type mystery and compared to the likes of James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy, and Dashiell Hammet, this one just doesn’t quite make the grade. The aforementioned gents were some of the most prolific and widely read writers of “noir” with James M. Cain being this reader’s all-time favorite.
Personally, I often found portions of Marlowe’s tome lacking in continuity and hard to follow which made it less enjoyable.
September 14, 2019
While the beginning is interesting, the story quickly goes downhill, possibly when you find out the main guy is really a very poor detective. True, he gave up the biz for mildly confusing reasons, but the real one has to be that he's not a very good detective [ref the dog]. But the story stumbles on, as he misses almost everything of significance. Speaking of significance, if the bizarre ending has one, only they know.
August 9, 2020
One of Aunt Milly's. Nothing special.y I'm going through process of clearing out book cases. 6/20
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews