Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.

A desperate socialite seeks her missing husband, troubled by bad investments and debts, with help from a private eye and the high-priced call girl hubby had been seeing.

Private eye Dold, a specialist in surveillance tasks, is sent to investigate a Frankfurt bordello boss. He's a pain in the butt for many in the red-light district and is to be overthrown to pave the way for financially strong speculators to lucratively redevelop the area. Dold, who always saw his work as morally justified, comes to doubt the rightness of his actions far too late.

An active building contractor hires a failed private detective, Pantelis. His mission is to sabotage her competitor, Bastounas, who is planning to build a hotel complex. When Bastounas forgets the suitcase with the money for the purchase of the land on which the hotel will be built, Pantelis will do everything he can to delay his secretary, who is responsible for delivering the money to him.

A private detective is offered a job protecting a rich business man from suspected blackmail. Before he can accept the case a murder is uncovered.

The Falcon is framed for the murder of a banker and the theft of war bonds. He makes his escape into the mountains where he hides out in a rustic lodge. From here he uncovers a phony war bond operation.

While an escaped convict, Moose Malloy, goes in search of his ex-girlfriend Velma, police inspector Michael O'Hara attempts to track him assuming him to be a prime suspect for a number of mishaps.

Travis McGee is a world-weary private eye trying to help boat skipper friend Van Harder salvage his reputation that sank when his boat ran aground, resulting in a death that might have been faked.

When Richard Logan, the partner in a safe making firm, is found unconscious, on an old deserted bomb site, he finds that he has no recollection of the last three weeks. Then he discovers that the private detective, hired by his wife, has been found murdered, and a safe that his firm installed in a large country house, has been cleverly opened, and the contents are missing. So with the help of his wife, he sets out to uncover the truth.