This is by Raymond Chandler (1888-1959). It was published in 1943, and it's the fourth novel to feature iconic detective Philip Marlowe.

It's hard to believe that this is my first Chandler... Dashiell Hammett (he of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man) was an obvious forbear in the "hardboiled" school, and clearly influenced Chandler, and the creation of his detective character. But this was my first experience of the man himself.

I'd always thought of Chandler as a quintessentially American writer. But actually he moved to England with his family when he was 12. And you know what's interesting? He and P.G. Wodehouse were contemporaries at Dulwich College... Arvind Ethan David winkled this out after noticing a striking similarity of style and form between these two otherwise widely diverging writers. They overlapped for just one term, in 1900. But they were taught by the same teachers...

Anyway, Chandler retuned to the US in 1912, when he settled in California. He began writing during the Depression era (initially short stories, and then, in 1939, his first Philip Marlowe novel, The Big Sleep).

The Lady in the Lake, which drew on three previous short stories, was written soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour brought the US into WWII. There are a few references to the hostilities, but they're not a major feature. And James R. Benn tells us that Chandler didn't mention the war again in his work until the 1950s. Perhaps this reticence was due to the public's demand for escapism. Or perhaps the reason was Chandler's own career. He immediately enlisted in the Canadian army when WWI broke out, and fought in the trenches: "He never referred to his war experiences, except to say, two years before he died, 'Once you have led a platoon of men into direct machine gun fire nothing is ever the same again.'" Like many veterans, he kept the detail to himself.



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This was a great book to read while we were relocating. Attention-grabbing, easy, atmospheric, and full of Marlowe's trademark observations ("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...") and wise cracks ("'I don't like your manner,' Kingsley said in a voice you could have cracked a brazil nut on. 'That's all right,' I said. 'I'm not selling it'"). There are so many nice turns of phrase that I could be quoting all day.

I won't spoil the thriller element by going into the plot in detail (indeed, given the vast number of twists and turns, I probably couldn't...) But you can find all the key points here.

The opening conundrum is the disappearance of one Crystal Kingsley (the troubled wife of Derace Kingsley, who's motivated more by concern for his reputation than concern for her wellbeing). Based on a telegram he received, he originally thinks she has run off with a man named Chris Lavery. But Lavery denies this -- and then Lavery turns up dead...

Also dead, of course, is the titular woman in the lake, a stretch of water situated in a scenic area where Kingsley has a cabin.


Mono Lake is way north of the lake we're talking about, but some of this rather lovely description could apply up there too: "We reached the long slope south of San Dimas that goes up to a ridge and drops down to Pomona. This is the ultimate end of the fog belt, and the beginning of that semi-desert region where the sun is as light and dry as old sherry in the morning, as hot as a blast furnace at noon, and drops like an angry brick at nightfall..."

But back to the submerged corpse... The assumption is that it was Muriel Chess, the somewhat incongruous wife of caretaker Bill. But who is the man who came looking for her a while ago? And what is the significance of the secrets that keep emerging from her dry goods stores...?

The whole plot is full of impersonations and red herrings, so it's not until the very end that you're sure who's who... I didn't guess anything, though. I was nicely led up the garden path each time.

There are a couple of interesting running themes. One is the role of the "dope doctor", as characterized by a man whose daughter died in mysterious circumstances that he believes her husband, Dr Almore, had something to do with. He describes "a doctor whose practice is largely with people who are living on the raw edge of nervous collapse, from drink and dissipation. People who have to be given sedatives and narcotics all the time. The stage comes when an ethical physician refuses to treat them any more, outside a sanatorium. But not the Dr Almores. THEY will keep on as long as the money comes in, as long as the patient remains alive and reasonably sane, even if he or she becomes a hopeless addict in the process." It reminded me horribly of the fate of Matthew Perry...

Another recurring theme is that of police brutality. Marlowe winds up a victim of it, and the higher-ups in the force are very familiar with the fabrication of scenarios that whitewash acts of violence. "Police business...," says one senior officer, "is a hell of a problem. It's a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there's nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get."


Raymond Chandler

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Opinion is divided as to the merits of The Lady in the Lake. Thriller-writer Stuart Turton hails it as "the most unheralded of Chandler's books... It might be the best plotting of all his mysteries. The resolution is fantastic." He likes its twistiness: "Every character you think could possibly have done it turns up either dead, or is completely innocent, or when you meet them they twist the book around completely." One of the first reviewers, Ray Gould, praises the book's suspense, emotional passion, and interesting characters. John Hansen says it's the "greatest page-turner" of the first four Marlowe novels.

Stephen Mertz, on the other hand, was disappointed by it, and wondered whether the author's personal circumstances and the war in Europe had robbed it of the verve of his other work. Contrary to Turton, he finds the plotting slipshod. Guy Salvidge notes J.G. Ballard's favourable opinion -- but disagrees with it.

I enjoyed it immensely, finding it much funnier than I'd expected, and definitely capable of holding my attention even at a very distracted time. I'd definitely read more.