Trouble Is My Business

“If you want to call all the plays in this game, you can carry the ball yourself. Or you can save yourself a lot of money and hire an order taker. I have to do things my way.” 

Marlowe rebukes Jeeter for trying to tell him how to do his job. In this quote, the detective is demonstrating his sense of his own worth as a P.I. and his indifference to coercion. Marlowe plays by his own set of rules to get the job done. 

“Somebody was nuts. I was nuts. Everybody was nuts. None of it fitted together worth a nickel.”

Marlowe is expressing his frustration at all the contradictory evidence piling up in the case. This is an indicator of how many people are lying to him or pointing the finger at someone else. As is true in subsequent stories, misdirection generally impedes Marlowe’s search for truth.

“He reached quietly under my coat and took the Luger. I might as well leave it home from now on. Everybody in town seemed to be able to take it away from me.”

This wry comment indicates how often Marlowe finds himself in the underdog position. Several times in this story, other individuals have successfully disarmed him. Nevertheless, through sheer persistence, the detective succeeds in coming out on top. 

“So let’s see what we have got. We have a lot of things that don’t add up, but I’m smart. I’m going to add them up anyhow.”

This quote represents Marlowe’s mission statement. In all of the stories, he is subjected to misdirection from both clients and criminals alike. Despite that, the detective manages to connect the dots and solve the crime anyway.

“‘Go call the law, angel,’ I said. ‘I’ll watch them now.’ ‘All right,’ she said standing up. ‘But you certainly need a lot of help in your private-detecting business, Mr. Marlowe.’” 

Harriet offers this humorous comment after Marlowe wraps up the case with her help. He needs help because he involves himself in situations that most other people would never undertake. Considering how steeply the odds are stacked against him, Marlowe needs all the help he can get.

“‘She likes you. I like her. See? You don’t want any more trouble.’ ‘Trouble—' I started to say, and stopped. I was tired of that gag for that night.” 

Marlowe repeats the catchphrase, “trouble is my business,” three times in the eponymous story. He’s demonstrating bravado by making the statement to people who threaten him with trouble. When he utters these words for the third time, he’s taken enough of a drubbing from his adversaries to make him a little less cocksure. 

“He was the kind of man who liked to have a desk in front of him, and shove his fat stomach against it, and fiddle with things on it, and look very wise.” 

Marlowe is describing the fixer, Frank Dorr. The emphasis on the desk implies that Dorr needs something to hide behind. The props he uses create an image that is at odds with Dorr’s true nature. He merely looks wise rather than being wise. 

“Dorr said dreamily: ‘You’re just like one of those rubber balls on the end of an elastic. The farther you get away, the suddener you’ll bounce back.’ I said: ‘The elastic might be a little rotten.’” 

Dorr has just offered Marlowe a bribe, which he is sure the detective will eventually take. Marlowe asserts his independence by insisting that he won’t snap back under Dorr’s control. He uses the word “rotten” to describe his integrity, implying that he is not tethered too closely to anyone. 

“It’s a shame how little account some folks take of human life—or twenty-two grand. Harger was knocked off so I could be framed and the dough was passed to me to make the frame tighter.”

Marlowe confides this thought to his friend, Bernie Ohls. In the corrupt world they both inhabit, human life is worth very little. To the greedy politicians who rule Los Angeles, $22,000 is a small sum because they can always extort more from the businessmen who depend on them. 

“Miss Glenn turned her head towards me and spoke very gravely, as if it was very important to the future of the race for me to believe what she said.”

Marlowe makes this remark as he watches Miss Glenn launch into a lie. He has already classified her as a dangerous femme fatale. Her earnest attempt to gain his trust is comical. 

“I have been bled by your organization for a long time. But this is something else again. Last night I was cheated out of some money. But this is trivial too. I am wanted for the murder of this Harger. A man named Cadena has been made to confess that I hired him […] That is just a little too much fix.” 

Canales has just been set up as a murderer by Dorr. This statement articulates his frustration at the extreme greed of the fixers in city government. Even someone as inured to corruption as Canales finds he has a limit. 

“Not all of the story came out, but enough so that the City Hall boys in the two-hundred-dollar suits had their left elbows in front of their faces for some time.” 

Marlowe’s exposure of Dorr’s murder plot creates embarrassment for the fixer’s cronies in city government. The detective realizes that he can do little more than cause them temporary discomfort. Still, in Marlowe’s corrupt world, justice is served even by that small victory. 

“She was a tall, seedy, sad-eyed blonde who had once been a policewoman and had lost her job when she married a cheap little check bouncer named Johnny Horne, to reform him. She hadn’t reformed him, but she was waiting for him to come out so she could try again.”

Marlowe is describing his friend Kathy. Even though his words seem to mock her addiction to lost causes, he admires her. Kathy’s determination to battle on in the face of obstacles is much like Marlowe’s own. 

“Here’s where they put the Leavenworth rap on him. You know an old con always goes back to look at the piece of sidewalk he slipped on.” 

Kathy offers this pithy observation about Peeler returning to Los Angeles. In addition to sharing Marlowe’s sense of integrity, she also shares his wry turn of phrase. The similarity in outlook and verbal expression demonstrates the friendship bond that the two share. 

“We shook hands, grinned at each other like a couple of wise boys who know they’re not kidding anybody, but won’t give up trying.”

Marlowe has just concluded a conversation with the insurance company manager, who keeps insisting that the lost pearls will never be found. The two men engage in a verbal duel of denial and innuendo. Marlowe’s satirical comment indicates that he has read the subtext of the conversation accurately because he never expects anyone in his world to speak the truth outright. 

“His lack of expression told me I was right. It was one of those breaks you dream of, but don’t handle right even in dreams.”

Marlowe is accustomed to trouble. He never expects luck to go his way. In this instance, he finds a lucky break staring him in the face, but his innate fatalism causes him to anticipate that he won’t be able to take full advantage of the situation. 

“You can wear the cops down […] You can wear the insurance company down and even the postal men […] But you can’t wear the chiselers down […] They’ll never lay off. There’ll always be a couple or three with time enough and money enough and meanness enough to bear down.” 

Marlowe is trying to convince Sype to reveal the location of his stolen pearls. Although the statement might be intended to demoralize Sype, it also reveals something about Marlowe’s fatalistic view of human nature. Evil is more persistent than the forces of law and order. 

“There was a desert wind blowing that night […] On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.” 

Marlowe describes the atmosphere that prevails at the beginning of “Red Wind.” The Santa Ana winds offer an explanation for the bizarre events that are about to unfold and interconnect in unexpected ways. On this night, anything can happen, and it does. 

“I sipped my drink. I like an effect as well as the next fellow. Her eyes ate me.” 

Marlowe is giving Lola vital information about her blackmailer’s death. While the detective frequently mocks the people he encounters, he isn’t above mocking himself. He recognizes that he’s paused for dramatic effect simply to keep Lola’s attention fastened on him. 

“The knocking sounded again. The backs of my hands were wet. I creaked my chair and stood up and made a loud yawning sound. Then I went over and opened the door—without a gun. That was a mistake.”

Marlowe frequently enjoys foreshadowing events in his narration. Typically, these statements include an element of self-mockery because they demonstrate that the detective isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. In this instance, he’s about to open the door to a murderer.

“The girl stood over him, looking down. Then her wide dark horrified eyes came up and fastened on mine. ‘That buys me,’ I said. ‘Anything I have is yours—now and forever.’” 

Lola has just shoved a gun into Al’s back, creating a distraction that prevents him from murdering Marlowe. The detective’s code of ethics impels him to show gratitude. He keeps his word when he does everything in his power to protect Lola from the police and spare her the knowledge that her dead pilot was a liar.

“Tell me about the pearls. We have had a murder and a mystery woman and a mad killer and a heroic rescue and a police detective framed into making a false report. Now we will have pearls. All right—feed it to me.”

Marlowe makes this droll statement summarizing the outrageous events that have already occurred in a single night without the addition of a stolen pearl necklace. At the same time, the author may be poking secret fun at the over-the-top plotting so frequently employed in hard-boiled detective stories. 

“She wasn’t beautiful, she wasn’t even pretty, but she looked as if things would happen where she was.”

Marlowe is describing Frank’s Russian mistress. He manages to capture her allure without reference to any distinctive physical characteristics. Like most of the other femme fatales in these stories, Eugénie exudes a sense of danger, which carries a seductive charm all its own.