Fourth in the Philip Marlowe series, this book takes the detective to a remote cabin on a lake following a lead to find a missing woman. There he finds a dead woman in the lake. It is not his missing woman so he now has two mysteries to solve. What’s the chance that these two woman are connected?
“I saw a wave of dark blond hair straighten out in the water and hold still for a brief instant as if with a calculated effect, and then swirl into a tangle again.”
“The Lady in the Lake” by Raymond Chandler
Glanceabook: The reader is transported to a film noir movie set with where the characters smoke cigarettes and drink whiskey or gin – a lot of atmosphere created when describing smoke curling from a lit cigarette, or the clink of ice cubes in a glass. The detailed descriptions of what characters are wearing, or what a house looks like, all help to clearly visualise the action. The author has a unique way with words and comes up with some very snappy dialogue.
Literary Hub: “There is beauty of expression, witty dialogue, development of character, tremendous forcefulness, fast action, and thrills aplenty in The Last in the Lake. A thoroughly adult mystery to keep you awake long after bedtime.” (An original review by Ray Gould, The Montgomery Advertiser, December 5, 1943)
Quotes:
“I’m all done with hating you. It’s all washed out of me. I hate people hard, but I don’t hate them very long.”
“She looked playful and eager, but not quite sure of herself, like a new kitten in a house where they don’t care much about kittens.”
“I smelled of gin. Not just casually, as if I had taken four or five drinks of a winter morning to get out of bed on, but as if the Pacific Ocean was pure gin and I had nosedived off the boat deck. The gin was in my hair and eyebrows, on my chin and under my chin. It was on my shirt. I smelled like dead toads.”
“I lit a cigarette and dragged a smoking stand beside the chair. The minutes went by on tiptoe, with their fingers to their lips.”
Philip Marlowe series: Source: Penguin
- The Big Sleep
- Farewell, My Lovely
- The High Window
- The Lady in the Lake
- The Little Sister
- The Long Goodbye
- Playback
- Trouble Is My Business
Movie adaptation: Lady in the Lake is a 1947 American film noir starring Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames and Jayne Meadows.
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