In The Panama Hat, Philip Marlowe finds himself in a precarious position when Isabelle Gordon, a striking woman with an air of desperation, seeks his assistance. Her husband, Bruce, has been receiving unsigned letters threatening his life, and Isabelle fears for his safety. She describes Bruce as a photographer who has struggled to find his footing since returning from the war, and now spends his days in a makeshift studio at her uncle Avery Fairchild's estate near Malibu. The tension between Bruce's artistic aspirations and Uncle Avery's disdain for anything that doesn't generate profit creates a fraught atmosphere.