John Banville to pen 'Philip Marlowe'-novel

       The Raymond Chandler estate has apparently corralled the most prominent post-ghost-writer since Ian Fleming's let Kingsley Amis write Colonel Sun: yes, as for example Jason Boog reports at GalleyCat, John Banville to Revive Raymond Chandler's Detective, as:

Award winning novelist John Banville will write a new novel about Raymond Chandler's beloved private detective, Philip Marlowe. Henry Holt will publish the book in 2013 under Banville's pen name, Benjamin Black.

       Much as I love Banville's work, Chandler set the bar pretty damn high and I have my serious doubts about this. My preference would be for Marlowe to be left well enough alone. But I "understand" that literary estates must sell their souls milk themselves for all they're worth, while they can .....
       (Meanwhile, note that Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty-Year Death -- one third of which is a Chandler-homage (but, fortunately, does not involve Marlowe) -- just came out.)