The Lady in the Lake (original 1943; edition 1988)

I'll return to Chandler's novels again and again. His prose and the hard-boiled world-weariness of Marlowe go down as smoothly as a good bourbon. Lady in the Lake is a good example of a Chandler plot that ends up being a bit convoluted, yet somehow, Chandler still manages to keep it grounded and believable. ( )

This might've been my favourite so far, and that might be because I managed to figure it out before Chandler got there. I like feeling smart, and after he lost me plenty of times in the other books, I got pleased with myself for following this one just fine. The plotting was tighter, or at least, more comprehensible, and it didn't seem to inexplicably wander quite so much.

As always, though, in my opinion the writing was the stronger part -- and the characterisation, of course: mostly that of Marlowe. His dialogue and the first person narrative see to that. The writing/dialogue isn't so stunning now I know what to expect from Chandler, but it's still good. The whole exchange about 'whom' made me laugh: "Did he say whom?"/"Yeah, but don't hit him. There is such a word."/"I knew there was. I often wondered where they kept it."

A couple more to go. I'll be sad when I run out of Chandler. ( )

This is the second Chandler novel I've read. I found it more satisfying than [book: The Long Goodbye] -- although it's just occurred to me that there's a major plot point that is very similar in the two books. Chandler's wise-cracking private eye, Philip Marlowe, is hired to investigate the disappearance of a rich man's wife. When a woman turns up dead in the lake near the rich man's mountain cottage, the case seems on its way to a solution. But Marlowe keeps investigating, finding more bodies, dealing with corrupt and violent police, and at last coming to the true solution. Reading this at the same time as the Katherine Hall Page books I recently reviewed engendered some ruminations on the differences between the "cozy" traditional mystery, much scorned by Chandler, and the "hard-boiled" and sometimes noir private-eye series like Chandler's, Hammett's, and John D. MacDonald's. My conclusion is that it's the latter that is really the "escapist" fiction, more so than the "cozy" (a term "cozy" writers hate). Marlowe and his ilk lead lives very different from those of most of their readers. In [book: The Lady in the Lake] Marlowe never even seems to sleep, much less have to deal with other mundane tasks, nor does he have any friends or family to care for or even relate to. The usual amateur sleuth in a traditional mystery has to hold down a job, either paid or unpaid, care for family and friends, and often maintain a marriage or romance, while solving a crime. This brings to mind the line that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but did it backwards and in high heels!
I read this book for the DorothyL Book Discussion, where we're reading and discussing a classic work of detective fiction every month.
I also watched the movie version of this book, which was made in 1947 starring and directed by Robert Montgomery. Don't bother. The writing (not by Chandler) is terrible and the plot has been jiggered; a completely pointless Christmas theme (original set in high summer) makes it even worse. ( )

Good entry in the Philip Marlow series just a bit hard-boiled for my taste... ( )

The Lady in the Lake is the tale of Private Detective Marlowe, who is hired to find a missing woman by her husband. Marlowe finds a woman dead in the lake of this couples cabin getaway, but it isn’t the same woman, it is the wife of the caretaker. With all his great detective skills, humor and wit; Marlowe attempts to uncover this mystery, with some interesting results.

I do have to admit, I’ve got a special place in my heart for all things written by Raymond Chandler; especially the Philip Marlowe series. I beleive this is the forth book I’ve read in this series, and i do plan to read them all. The Lady in the Lake, follows the standard Chandler format; Marlowe gets hired for a case that appears to be an easy job on the surfice, as he follows the case where ever it takes him, it become more and more complex. ( )