The Lady in the Lake (1943)
Author: Raymond Chandler
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
Synopsis:
Marlowe takes the case of a businessman who wants his missing wife found, only to get caught up in more trouble than he bargained for.
Impressions:
Well, the title makes it pretty clear what to expect when Marlowe goes to a place called Little Fawn Lake. While I've enjoyed all of Chandler's novels thus far, this might be the most well-crafted of the ones I've read. I actually thought this one wasn't cobbled together from earlier short stories because everything was so cohesive, but that wasn't the case. He had just refined the art of Frankensteining his earlier works so that the different plot threads are woven together pretty well seamlessly. There's just the right amount of misdirection to keep you guessing without feeling that your time is being wasted. I was thrown off the trail for a bit, but looking back, the pieces were all there. You'd thnk Marlowe would've learned to stay away from Bay City after Farewell, My Lovely, but I guess a man's gotta eat. He's lucky he wasn't eating through a tube after the Bay City cops were done with him, but there's a nice aversion wth Captain Webber as more of a honest cop trying to do what good he can with a basket of mostly bad apples.
I liked this one quite a bit, and while it may not have the same iconic status as The Big Sleep, it arguably surpasses it in terms of craftmanship. Add this one to your personal
Rating:Own It