Author Joins Case to Help Marlowe Solve ’59 Mystery

Raymond Chandler may have died in 1959, but his incomparable detective, Philip Marlowe, lives on--albeit in a state of limbo since Chandler left an unfinished Marlowe novel, “The Poodle Springs Story,” at the time of his death. Now comes word that Robert B. Parker, author of the “Spenser: For Hire” mysteries, will finish it. Chandler had written four chapters of the book, in which Marlowe gets hitched and moves his business to Palm Springs. Having Parker complete the book, which is due out next fall, was the brainstorm of Ed Victor, the London literary agent who represents Chandler’s estate. “The idea of finishing something begun by one of the great writers of the century is a bit daunting and a bit exhilarating,” said Parker, who devoted part of his doctoral dissertation to Chandler. “I hope the exhilaration prevails.”

Scrooge apparently is alive and well in Salem, Ore. Bell ringers for the Salvation Army who raise money for the poor during the holiday season have been banned at a downtown shopping mall where they have been fixtures for 17 years. Lancaster Mall is finally enforcing an 8-year-old rule against fund-raising solicitations, mall manager Carol Watson said. In the past, Salvation Army bell ringers were excepted. But last year, seven other groups wanted to collect charitable donations there, and Watson says the mall owners decided to enforce the ban to prevent discrimination. According to Salvation Army spokesman Jim Ryan, bell ringers raised $17,000 in donations at the mall last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

A pair of gobblers named Belle and Ethel are the official spokes-turkeys for a group of animal rights activists who are trying to demonstrate that a successful Thanksgiving meal need not include the birds as the main course. The pair were taken under the wing of Linny Miller and her family in Great Meadows, N.J., as part of the pre-Thanksgiving “Adopt a Turkey” program of Farm Sanctuary, a Delaware-based animal rights group. The group says it rescues turkeys from “factory farms” and slaughterhouses and is organizing lunches and receptions for the birds between now and Thanksgiving in Maryland, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri and California, in addition to New Jersey. At this particular gathering, Belle and Ethel dined on spaghetti squash, cranberries and sunflower seeds, while human guests made do with oatmeal, raisin cookies, bread and jam.