Private detective Philip Marlowe is investigating a dead-end missing person case when he sees a felon, Moose Malloy, barging into a club called Florian's, looking for his ex-girlfriend Velma Valento.

She tells Marlowe that she learned from Randall that the necklace belongs to a Mrs. Lewin Lockridge Grayle, the young wife of a wealthy and influential Bay City resident.

Marlowe examines some marijuana cigarettes he found on Marriott's body and discovers the card of a psychic, Jules Amthor.

Marlowe is then told that Malloy may be hiding out on a gambling boat anchored beyond the three-mile limit and run by Brunette, who also controls the corrupt Bay City government.

Marlowe sneaks on board with the help of Red Norgaard, another honest cop fired by Bay City, and despite being caught by Brunette, persuades him to pass a message through his criminal network to Malloy.

"Mandarin's Jade" was the basis for the middle sections about a jewel theft which may or may not have happened, the murder of a blackmailer and a corrupt psychic who works with a crime ring.

"The Man Who Liked Dogs" provided the final part, where the detective is looking for a criminal and his search ultimately takes him to a gambling boat anchored off the Santa Monica coast, out of reach of the local law.

As Chandler adapted and integrated the stories—which were originally written independently—he cared more about the style of writing and the characters than about making sure every plot point fitted together with consistency and lucidity.

In 1944, Dick Powell played the part of the hard-boiled detective, named Philip Marlowe this time, in a classic film noir release—alternatively titled Murder, My Sweet (in the United States) and Farewell, My Lovely (in the UK)—two years before cinema-goers saw Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946).

Although not technically an adaptation, the "Harlem Nocturne" episode of the television series The New Mike Hammer (aired 26 November 1986 on CBS) borrowed major plot details from the novel's story of the search by a huge ex-con for his former girlfriend and criminal partner, including the fight in the bar and someone deliberately identifying a photo incorrectly and then being killed.

[citation needed] The novel was adapted on BBC Radio 4 by Bill Morrison, directed by John Tydeman and broadcast on 22 September 1988, starring Ed Bishop as Marlowe.

BBC Radio 4, as part of its Classic Chandler series, also broadcast on 19 February 2011 a dramatic adaptation by Robin Brooks, with Toby Stephens as the hardboiled detective.

[citation needed] In the first shot after the opening titles of Get Carter, the character played by Michael Caine is seen reading a paperback copy of the book.

In the opening episode of the television series Bored to Death, the character Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman, is inspired to become a private detective after reading the book.