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    The Lady In The Lake
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    The Lady In The Lake
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    The Lady In The Lake
    Ebook286 pages3 hours

    The Lady In The Lake

    By Raymond Chandler

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Tasked with tracking down the estranged wife of a high-profile client, Derace Kingsley, hard-boiled private investigator Philip Marlowe is soon pulled in over his head when he discovers the drowned body of a woman at a lake. When a local cop takes interest in the investigation, Marlowe needs to solve the increasingly complex puzzle quickly . . . not just to save his client’s reputation, but his own neck as well.

    The Lady in the Lake is the fourth Philip Marlowe story by Raymond Chandler and one of the best-loved. Since it was first published in 1943, The Lady in the Lake has been adapted for film and radio.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 16, 2013
    ISBN9781443417747
    Unavailable
    The Lady In The Lake
    Author

    Raymond Chandler

    Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was best known as the creator of fictional detective Philip Marlowe. One of the most influential American authors of crime novels and stories, his books were considered classics of the genre, and many of them were turned into enormously popular Hollywood films, including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.

    Read more from Raymond Chandler

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    Reviews for The Lady In The Lake

    3.5/5

    304 ratings59 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A private detective looks for a woman and finds some bodies.3/4 (Good).Marlowe isn't as persistently amusing as he is in his first few novels. He has his moments, but mostly the book is allowed to focus on the plot, which is never Chandler's strength.
    • 3/5
      At his best, Chandler is giddily, addictively good at description and turn of phrase. Any writer will walk away from a Chandler page wishing, at least a little bit, they'd thought of that way to put that.

      But at his Worst, Chandler overplots his books to a frustrating degree. If only he'd abandoned the notion of having a "clever mystery" here. The setup is interesting because of the characters and because of Marlowe's view of the world, not because the story is so knotty and in-credible that the eventual resolution requires a hundred wonky parts to move together.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      A solid Marlowe novel despite having a couple parts of the resolution I wasn't a fan of.
    • 4/5
      Cutting right to the chase, the fourth novel in Chandler's Marlowe series begins with a missing wife. Degrace Kingsley, a businessman in the perfume business, hires Marlowe to find his wife Crystal. Although they'd been "washed up for years," Kingsley needs Marlowe to find her to make sure she hasn't done anything scandalous to reflect back on him. The last time he knew Crystal's actual whereabouts was a month earlier, when she was staying at their cabin up at at Little Fawn Lake at Puma Point. Marlowe travels there, meets Kingsley's alcoholic caretaker, Bill Chess, whose wife has also disappeared. Not a believer in coincidence, Marlowe decides that he needs to look into both cases, and finds a lot more than he expected.Things in Los Angeles have changed a bit since the time of The High Window. Chandler makes a number of references to the war starting with the very first sentence of the novel, as a sidewalk in front of Kingsley's office building, made of "black and white rubber blocks" is being dismantled to go the government. Later, he notes that armed sentries are standing guard at the dam at Puma (read Big Bear) Lake, "at each end and one in the middle." Marlowe runs into a woman who walked to her destination to save her tires for the government. Men are waiting to hear about their enlistment. At the same time, some things have remained the same: crooked cops, murder, blackmail, illegal gambling and drugs are still in action in the city. There's another big difference in this book that sets it apart as well -- a good deal of action takes place away from LA, up in the mountains where life is much slower, where deer walk unimpeded, where people are actually nice, and where rudeness is conspicuous and not appreciated. It's an entirely different world, just a few hours' drive from the city.The Lady in the Lake is quite intriguing, and although isn't my favorite of the Marlowe novels so far, Chandler is still very much on top of his game here. The same wisecracks and witty turns of phrase are still in play. Marlowe continues to try to hold on to his own moral compass while having to resort to less than ethical means to find the bad guys. And while there is a basic formula shared by all of these novels -- Marlowe being hired, Marlowe bumping into peripheral cases that somehow tie to his own investigations and get him into some sort of trouble -- each book is different in its own way. Normally when crime novels get formulaic I get bored. For some reason, that's just not the case with these books -- between Chandler's writing, his focus not just on Marlowe but the other characters as well, and the way he describes Marlowe's Los Angeles, I can't get enough.
    • 4/5
      Classic crime noir fun. No wondering what anyone is thinking in a book like this!
    • 5/5
      Chandler is a favorite of ,mine and this story is one I like very much, though I also like the shorter stories he rewrote to create it. My favorite character is the old sheriff, called Patton in this version.
    • 5/5
      Another great read from Raymond Chandler! Five pages in and I was hooked and addicted! This story moves fast - once the body is found in the lake, the search intensifies! And with poor alibis, confused identities, and a dedicated Marlowe hot on the trail, the action is whip snap! I love the way Chandler writes, and a sentence like, "I gobbled what they called the regular dinner, drank a brandy to sit on its chest and hold it down, and went out on the main street.", just leaves me in awe of his writing. I'm so glad I haven't read every one of his books - yet!
    • 4/5
      Hired to find a rich man's missing wife, Marlowe starts the case by finding the body of a different missing wife. Hard boiled classic with the trademark Marlowe cracks.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Warning....spoilers ahead....DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK.I like Chandler a lot...I like the atmosphere and tone of his writing. I like his dialogue; I like his descriptive language; I like Marlowe as a character; I like his characters in general. As someone who grew up in LA, I also find the setting of his novels fascinating.Having said all that, I felt like I may have enjoyed reading this book more than it really deserved. A couple of plot turns seemed too obvious and others left me scratching my head. In particular, I found the idea that Mildred Haviland would have become Muriel Chess to be entirely incongruous, and I was in retrospect baffled by Al Degarmo's actions in the final stages of the story (which made for plenty of drama, but again felt out of character).
    • 5/5
      It's known mostly for its great use of metaphor. The cowboy character that crops up at the end is one of Chandler's finest creations. This is a damn fine read and falls just below The Long Goodbye and The Big Sleep.
    • 4/5
      The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister - I got hooked into the Big Sleep right at the end of March, then lashed out in Waterstones to buy a three-in-one compendium and whomped my way through it in a weekend. They aren't works of literary genius, but they are well-plotted and stylish who/why dunnits. And though I can't do accents in real life, inside my head I was reading in an American drawl, with pictures in stylish black-and-white and a sleazy sax in the background. I thought I'd grown out of detectives/crime but these are thoroughly good reads and I'd recommend them to anyone.
    • 4/5
      Some silly twists, but they probably help to make this such a compelling, cinematic story with a strong supporting cast.
    • 5/5
      The first "noir" book I've read. I quite enjoyed it! Chandler's writing puts you right in Marlowe's head, which is an interesting place to be. Short, economical sentences combine with vivid - almost poetic - imagery, matching Marlowe's rough surface and surprising depth. The plot was pleasantly tangled - enough to keep you on your toes, but not so much that you stop caring.I think I might have to track down some more of this and give it a go.
    • 3/5
      A lady whose name is Crystal didn't come back.Where is she?A detective tried to find her. But he found other people dead who had been related with her.what's happened?I was interested in the introduction.So I chose to read this book.But there are too many characters in this book.It was difficult for me to memorize their names.And the ending was complicated.I'm unsatisfied with it.
    • 5/5
      The first Chandler I read, and afterward I methodically read all the others, often more than once. So this has to get five stars, if only for sentimental reasons.
    • 1/5
      I have been intersted in police and detective since I was a child .The work of detective is certainly very hard and dangerous .But after reading this , I thought more and more detective is very important .And I also think I want to save people like them .
    • 5/5
      Chandler in good form. The two blonds disappearing on the same day is a bit of a giveaway.
    • 5/5
      The Lady in the Lake is one of Chandler's best. Philip Marlowe finds a body--but whose body is it? Laced with Chandler's wry commentary on everything from rich dames to down and out war veterans, this book is an absolute delight from the first page to the last. Classic Chandler. Sharp, funny, full of surprising twists, and always the most original prose around. Highest recommendation for an American "noir" novel.
    • 4/5
      One of Chandler's best with the usual sultry women, shady men and tragic ending
    • 5/5
      Philip Marlowe, of The Big Sleep has a new case- he has to find the missing socialite wife of a perfumier... but along the way he discovers another missing woman and a string of shady characters.Reading Raymond Chandler is a lot like watching Bogart film noir (perhaps, because Bogart film noir is usually based on Chandler's books... hm). Anyway, the style is fun to read, the mystery is truly mysetrious, by which I mean you can't figure it out within the first ten pages; it really does twist and turn to the point that you figure it out about the time Marlowe does. He's not consciously oblivious the way many lit detectives can be, to make a mystery seem more complex than it really is. And as a narrator, he's first rate. Funny, dry, witty, tough, and sly.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      A missing woman, another found in a lake. Marlowe unravels a complicated mystery.
    • 3/5
      A reasonably good mystery with enough twists to keep me reading. For the kind of book this is, the writing is impressive. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one of the better books I’ve read recently.
    • 4/5
      I've been wanting to read a book by this author for awhile now and the synopsis for this one sounded good. so I finally took the plunge. While this book can be classified as historical fiction, it also fits in the mystery and women's fiction genres. I ended up really enjoying this novel and look forward to reading other books by Laura Lippman.It's 1966 and Madeline "Maddie" Schwartz. lives in Baltimore with her husband and teenage son. It might seem like she has it all but she wants more than just playing the role of dutiful housewife. In search of living a more meaningful life, she leaves her husband and eventually finds work at a local newspaper. She is on the low end of the totem pole there but she thinks the right story will get her some attention. Maddie is particularly interested in finding out what exactly happened to Cleo Sherwood, a young African American woman who was found dead in the fountain of a city park lake. However her eagerness to find out the truth could come at an awful price for some. I was surprised at how many different things the story was able to touch on such as race, religion, women in the workforce, the newspaper industry, and politics to name a few. For me what really drove the story was the mystery of Cleo Sherwood more so than the Maddie "finding herself" storyline. While Maddie's perspective was predominately featured, other characters, including Cleo gave their spin on events throughout the book. For the most part I liked this method of telling the story especially as it really demonstrated how Maddie's actions affected other people. However, a few characters really had nothing much to do with advancing the plot so even though the appearances were brief, they just felt unnecessary. This is the type of book in which there is a little bit of something for everyone and what each reader takes away from it might be different. Definitely recommend especially if the 1960s Baltimore setting peaks your interest like it did for me.Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review!
    • 2/5
      Just did not appeal.
    • 5/5
      Baltimore is in the news this week, and if you want to get a real taste of what that city is like, turn to the novels of mystery writer Laura Lippman. Along with her Tess Monaghan Baltimore PI series, Lippman's stand alone novels are set in and near Baltimore, including her latest, Lady in the Lake.Madeline Schwartz is a middle-aged housewife and mother of a teenage son, living a comfortable existence in 1960's Baltimore. But she is not satisfied with that anymore. She leaves her husband, moves to a small apartment in a different part of the city, and begins to look for a bigger meaning to her life.She also begins a torrid, secret affair with a black police officer. She befriends Judith, a younger woman, and when a young girl goes missing, Maddie and Judith join the search party. When they find the body of the girl, a reporter from a local newspaper interviews Maddie, and Maddie decides to befriend him in order to get a job at the newspaper.Lippman began her career as a newspaper journalist and Maddie's experiences at the paper have such a ring of authenticity to them that you can smell the ever-present cigarette smoke that permeates the newsroom. The newsroom is a male-dominated bastion, and Maddie has to maneuver her way to figure out how to rise in the ranks from assistant to the advice columnist to real reporter.When a young black woman goes missing, Maddie asks why this woman's disappearance is less newsworthy. Cleo, the single mom of a young child, was dating a married man of prominence in the community. When her body is found in the fountain of a city park, the police show little interest in solving the case.Maddie gets to know Cleo's mother, and ingratiates herself with the police detective in charge of the case. Her cop boyfriend warns her to stay away from it, but Maddie wants justice for Cleo.The story alternates between Maddie and chapters narrated by Cleo, who is speaking from beyond to Maddie. There are also short chapters narrated by others, including the reporter Maddie works with, and a Baltimore Oriole baseball player, that give additional layers of depth to this powerful, immersive story.You can add Maddie Schwartz to the long list of Lippman's strong and brilliantly drawn female characters, including Tess Monaghan, Lu Brant from Wilde Lake and Polly from Sunburn. I don't know of anyone who writes literary mysteries better than Laura Lippman, and I bow down to anyone who gives a shout-out to The Big Valley. I highly recommend Lady in the Lake.
    • 5/5
      Just one evening with an old school friend and Maddie’s life is not what it was anymore. Her life with her husband Milton and their son Seth simply isn’t what she wants anymore and so she makes a courageous decision for the year 1966: she leaves. Now completely on her own, she wants to make real another dream: becoming a journalist and when she, by pure chance, comes across the body of a young girl and soon after again of a woman, she seizes the opportunity of her first contact with the press. It is especially the second case of the “Lady in the Lake” as she was named that turns in her mind. Nobody seems to be really care about who murdered Cleo Sherwood, just because Cleo was black. Maddie knows that there must be a story behind it and that this can be her chance to really become a reporter.Laura Lippman’s novel is one of the most talked about books of 2019 and it only takes a couple of pages to understand why all this praise is more than justified. “Lady in the Lake” is the perfect combination of a crime novel and the story of a woman who follows her will and is brave enough to do this against all societal conventions. The setting is all but favourable for such an undertaking and Lippman’s lively portrait of Baltimore of the 1960s underlines with which severe consequences such an attitude came in these days. The most outstanding aspect of the novel is surely the protagonist. Maddie Schwartz is the perfect Jewish housewife – until she isn’t anymore. She remembers the young woman she once was, surely a bit stubborn, but to put it positively: she knew what she wanted and she got it. So why should she be pleased with the second best life? She definitely is a bit naive, but her sympathetic authenticity is the key to the people and this makes her story convincing and plausible. Times were harsh, above all for black people and the novel gives a good impression of what this meant in everyday life. It is not an open accusation of segregation and the different kind of treatment of people of colour or even a political statement, but simply a fact and thus an integral part of what the characters experience. I also liked the constant change of perspective and how Lippman integrated different points of view which also gives a good idea of someone like Maddie was perceived in her time. This also make the narrative lively and varied. I had some high expectations due to the masses of admiring reviews I had read, but nevertheless, the novel surpassed them easily.