The Big Sleep: Philip Marlowe

And now as promised here is the first image of a series of 8 images, that compile a series of character portraits from Raymond Chandler's classic hard boiled detective, crime novel 'The Big Sleep'.
First character up is of course the main protagonist, the wise-cracking, cynical, tough guy but ultimately decent guy, detective Philip Marlowe. His characteristics would provide the template for later urban crime fiction.
And I find that he himself is a tarnished knight in some way in that the work he does is dirty yet still maintains his own moral code, which was characteristic in Chandler's writing that I think makes his character a success in literature.