In "Operation Whiplash," the ninth Novel in the Drake series, Marlowe does an about-face and returns his series to its nasty, hardboiled roots. No international adventures or mysterious government agencies. When Hazel disappears, it's Drake alone against an entire syndicate. This feels like many of the hardboiled detective stories of the fifties. This one is an all-out war against a pack of the meanest foes Drake has ever encountered.

Not only does Marlowe return this series to its hardboiled roots, but he takes Drake and Hazel back to the Florida town he never thought he'd return to -- not after the mayhem he left in his wake there.

More than some of the other books in this series, Whiplash goes back over a lot of ground from the first two books, particularly Endless Hour. For anyone new to this series, this summary should fill you in completely on Drake's background-- at least as much as anyone knows. ( )