Philip Marlowe is the private-investigator protagonist of the story. Best described as an anti-hero, he is at times brash and brazen, and usually brave. He lives at odds with the law, working with law enforcement only when it benefits him. Otherwise, he keeps to himself and tries to figure out cases on his own. In this way, he’s highly independent and uses the people around him to his advantage; rather than being malicious, however, he never harms the people that he uses.

The women in the novel see him as attractive yet vulgar. He is physically handsome and at times charismatic, but he is almost always sarcastic. Despite his sarcastic and unabashed nature, Mrs. Grayle and Anne Riordan find him irresistible. Although he wins the affections of these two women, he never seems interested in romance. Rather, he lives a bachelor life and keeps his heart woven into the work he’s pursuing. This isn’t to say that Marlowe is unfeeling. At times, he reveals that he’s attracted to both Mrs. Grayle and Anne, but he doesn’t let himself get close to either woman.