Alien Philip Marlowe in Malibu

[Nixob]

Hi folks,

I am trying to get the name/author of a novel in which the main character is an alien who has come to Earth after learning about human culture from radio broadcasts of Philip Marlowe shows which reach his planet. He has a nose which takes up most of his face (a racial trait) and wears the trenchcoat/fedora ensemble of his hero.

He spends most of the time in the Malibu area, befriending some surfers - the thing is that surfers don't really surf much themselves anymore, but have radio-controlled robots instead called surfbots (you can imagine how much good that was for a search term).

It's from sometime in the nineties, and I would greatly appreciate any help on this...

[Ursa major]

After a bit of surfing (minus the surfbots), I found the character Zoot Marlowe, who, it seems appears in three books:

• Surfing Samurai Robots (1988);
• Hawaiian U.F.O. Aliens (1990);
• Tubular Android Superheroes (1991).

The author is Mel Gilden, apparently.

[Nixob]

Thanks Ursa, I'm eternally grateful - that's exactly what I was looking for.

[Ursa major]

You're welcome.

(It's a bit of a treat getting an answer before the more learned members of the Chronns, of whom there are many.)