For Giovanna, with Love

For Giovanna, with Love is a biographical novel based on the life of Raymond Chandler. He is the author of The Big Sleep and the creator of the detective Philip Marlowe. Set in 1937, the story is told in the first person, and reflects Chandler's paradoxical view of life, a view that combines integrity with cynicism. After an alcoholic blackout, and down on his luck, Chandler is helped out of his doldrums by Rico Amici, owner of the North Broadway Caf in downtown Los Angeles. Working as a busboy and short-order cook, Chandler falls in love with Giovanna Barbaro, a waitress and part-time prostitute. Conflicted, Chandler also remains in love with his wife Cissy, a woman nineteen years his senior. When the unhappily pregnant Giovanna is murdered, the Amici family expects an ill-prepared Chandler to solve the murder and make la vendetta. The action of the novel requires a trip through the subterranean levels of a Los Angeles populated by con artists, manipulators, prostitutes, fading movie actresses, and abortionists. With the help of Sam Jacobs, a retired L.A.P.D. detective, Chandler solves the crime. The story ends in a deadly confrontation with Giovanna's murderer.