Thursday 5 February, 7pm
The Tabernacle, 34-35 Powis Square, London W11 2AY
Tickets: £15
“Maybe it was time I forgot about Nico Peterson, and his sister, and the Cahuilla Club, and Clare Cavendish. Clare? The rest would be easy to put out of my mind, but not the black-eyed blonde . . .”
John Banville resurrected Raymond Chandler’s private detective, Philip Marlowe, for his 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde. Set in Los Angeles, in the early 1950s, it begins with a visit from a beautiful, elegant heiress, Clare Cavendish, in search of her former lover. All of the essential noir elements are here - a murder, the powerful family with hidden secrets, the sleezy bars and mean streets of LA, and at its centre Chandler’s wisecracking and world-weary sleuth.
Banville will talk to John Mullan about writing his own Philip Marlowe mystery, the genius of Raymond Chandler and the enduring appeal of one of the most iconic private detectives in crime fiction.
Guardian Live: literary events
Kazuo Ishiguro: Sunday 8 March
Ishiguro returns in March with his first novel in ten years, The Buried Giant. Join us for a special Guardian Live event with the author at London’s Cadogan Hall on 8 March. Tickets go on general sale on 26 January.
100 Greatest Novels of All Time? Wednesday 18 February
Since 2013 Robert McCrum, Observer associate editor, has been writing a weekly column about his 100 Greatest Novels of All Time. But did he get it right? What did he miss? Join him for a discussion with novelist and founder of the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kate Mosse.
John Gray and Will Self: Wednesday 18 March
The political philosopher and bestselling author of Straw Dogs will talk to Will Self about his new book, The Soul of the Marionette: an Enquiry into Human Freedom.