 Yet the detective Philip Marlowe is not a stereotypical tough guy, but a complex, sometimes sentimental man with few friends, who attended university, who speaks some Spanish and sometimes admires Mexicans, and who is a student of chess and classical music.He is a man who refuses a prospective client's fee for a job he considers unethical.The high regard in which Chandler is generally held today is in contrast to the critical sniping that stung the author during his lifetime.