JoeIde revives alegend

BY SETH COMBS

Everything was goingswimmingly for Joe Ide. He was riding high with the success of his bestsellingand critically acclaimed “IQ”mystery series. What’s more,the novels, which center on a Black private detective named Isaiah Quintabe,hadsparked a seven-waybidding war for the TVadaptationrights. Thewinnerofthe rights? Alcon Entertainment with none otherthanSnoop Dogg himself attachedas a producer.

Then, justlike oneofthe detectivesinhisnovels,Ide got anunexpectedcall.

“They reallycalledme outoftheblue,”Ide recalls ofthe firsttimehe was contactedbytheestate of RaymondChandlerinquiringas to his interestinwriting a contemporary novel featuringChandler’s signature private detective Philip Marlowe “Apparentlyan agent was in theairport, andhelikedthe cover of‘IQ’ andendedup reading iton theplane. I don’t know what happenedbetweenhimand membersofthe estate,but apparently he convinced them that I should takea crackatwritinga contemporary Marlowe novel.”

The resultisthe recently released “TheGoodbye Coast,” a modern-dayupdate onPhilip Marlowe,a characterthat notonlyis beloved,buthasinspired generationsofmystery noir andthrillerwriters. With classicsinthe genre such as “TheBigSleep” and “The

LongGoodbye,”Chandler, wholivedinLosAngeles andlaterin La Jolla,where hediedin 1959 isoften creditedwithinventing,or atleastestablishing,the hard-boiledstyleofmystery fiction.Ide(pronounced “eee-day”)saysheemphaticallyagreed to take onthe projectof a new Philip Marlowe novel.Headmits, however, thathedidfeel pressure to be respectfulof thelegacywhilealso wanting to puthis own stampon the character.

“That was exactlythe dilemma. I almosthad to write thebookforpeople whodidn’tknow Philip Marlowe,”Idesays fromhis homeinSanta Monica.“It was those two things thatI had to balance: I had to pay homage to theoriginal Marlowe as wellaswrite it as a good,stand-alone detective novel.”

Theprocessof rebooting, updatingor releasing posthumoussequels to a writer’s signature characterisn’ta new trendbyanymeans. BothSirArthurConan DoyleandAgathaChristie’s creations(SherlockHolmes andHercule Poirot, respectively) have been rebooted and,inthecaseof Poirot, resurrectedbyvarious writers overthe years.Even inthecaseof Marlowe, bestsellingmystery writer Robert B.Parker wrote an authorizedsequel to “The BigSleep”in 1991 and,more recently, author Lawrence

Osborne released“Only to Sleep,”which sawa now elderly Marlowe livingand workingin Mexico. Still,Ideis avoiding using any words withthe prefix of “re-“(“reboot,” “retool”or “reimagining,” for example) to describe “TheGoodbye Coast” and prefers to see thenovel as simplywriting a “contemporary Philip Marlowe.”

“That was my assignment. I rereadChadler and Itried to take theoriginal Marlowe’s qualities his attitude,personality and worldview— andmove that into the 21stcentury as opposed justtakingthe sameHumphreyBogart characteranddropping him into 2021.”

“TheGoodbye Coast” beginsinsignature fashion: ayoung,brashdetective is hired to lookinto thedisap- pearancesof two children, butashe digs deeper he begins to suspect hisclients are hidingsomething The caseslead,naturally to entanglementswithmobstersand even darker elementsofL.A.’s underworld. Withdeft precision andtheknowledge ofa lifelong L.A resident, Ide effortlesslyinhabitsthe Marlowecharacter Justlike Chandlerbefore him,Ide paints a gritty picture of contemporary L.A. and its inhabitants,whilealso allowingthe reader to understandwhy a character like Marlowe triessohard to fightbackagainstthose darker forces.

“LosAngelesas a backdropis a huge part ofChandler,”saysIde,who’s making a virtualappearance Tuesdaythrough Warwick’s bookstore “Hemakesthe citya character sothat was definitelypart ofmytask: to findsomething recognizable butuniqueabout everywhere we go inthebook. Ido itthrough thepeople wholive there, throughtheir own livingspace.”

“Ihave thatideaforthe bookand I start to write,but I’m reallythinkingabout relationshipsandthinkingof thepeople,”Ide continues.“I thinkthemostinteresting partsofthenovel are when theprotagonistisbumping into other charactersand overcomingtheirpersonalitiesandissues.”

Ide often had toovercomesomeofthesesame issueswhile growingupin SouthCentralLosAngeles. Thesonof JapaneseAmericanparentswholivedina predominantlyBlackneighborhood,hesaysheoften feltlikea “misfit in a family that was “scrapingby.”

“Throughoutmostofmy growingup, I was culturally all overtheplace, Ide recalls.“I wasn’tBlack,I wasn’t White, I wasn’t Japanese.So I often feltlikeI didn’tbelonganywhere.”

Idesayshefoundsomethingof a literary kindred spiritinmiddleschoolwhen he firstbegan readingthe SherlockHolmesmysteries.

“He was like meinthe sensethathedidn’tbelong,” Idesays “Butunlike me he hadanidentity and hehad confidence.He coulddeal with anything inhis world with hisintelligence,andthat was very inspiring.I’m a small kidin a big neighborhood, andthose books gave mea senseofoptimismbecauseit saidI could face my own worldandnotbeafraid.”

Idelaterdiscoveredthe Chandler mysteriesin college,andit’s easy to see abitofboththe Marlowe andHolmes characters inthe“IQ”series ofnovels, the firstofwhich hepublishedin2013 He’s already hard at work onthesixth novel intheseries,but saysthathisbriefsojourn to writea Philip Marlowe novel served as a nice “palate cleanser” andthatit wasa “great experience.He knowssomeChandlerdiehardsmightbe reluctantor dismissive,butis readyfor any receptionthebook mightincite.

“Ithinkthe responses are going to beall overthe place,”Idesays “Ithink there willbepeoplewhosay it’s a travesty andsome peoplewhothink it’s exciting.Either way, I was really happy to write it.” Combsisafreelancewriter.