The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler, a master of hardboiled crime fiction, tells the tale of two missing spouses, one belonging to a rich man and the other to a poor man, who is now the focus of Philip Marlowe’s inquiry. One of them might have wed a gigolo and obtained a Mexican divorce, while the other might have passed away. Marlowe is unsure whether he cares about either of them, but he isn’t being paid to.
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
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The Lady in the Lake is a masterpiece. It’s amazing just as a piece of writing.
It accomplishes all the tasks for which Chandler is renowned, but it is much shorter than these other books and contains a much tighter mystery. And it does that thing where a twist appears on every other page. Every person you suspect of having done it turns out to be dead, innocent or changes the plot altogether once they are introduced.
This book pushes Marlowe outside of his comfort zone, which I really appreciate. We’re so used to picturing him prowling the dirty LA clubs and streets, but this takes him to the mountains, where there is fresh air and gorgeous bright weather. You can almost sense his unease, as though he is unsure of what to do with himself. And during the story, he encounters a lot of folks who are basically just regular people going about their daily lives, like a groundskeeper and an unhappy wife. Not the wealthy individuals he is used to. It has a totally distinct vibe from the other volumes.
