The Lady in the Lake
A Novel
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4.6 • 104 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The renowned novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson.
In The Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Each of Raymond Chandler’s mysteries is a treasure, but for many Philip Marlowe fans, 1943’s The Lady in the Lake is the secret masterpiece. Marlowe—the ultimate street-smart private eye—spends much of the book in a tiny mountain village far from downtown Los Angeles. He’s searching for his wealthy client’s missing wife when he falls into a seemingly unrelated murder investigation. Soon enough, both an amiable country sheriff and a city cop with a vendetta are on Marlowe’s back while he hunts for a mysterious blonde with a shady past. Chandler wrote the book as the United States was entering World War II, and it’s fascinating to see how that seismic conflict is a constant presence: One key character is an injured vet with what we’d now recognize as PTSD, and small details about life on the home front appear in nearly every chapter. These touches of history combine with one of Chandler’s most twisty plots to make this a thrilling read. (And don’t miss Robert Montgomery’s fascinatingly weird 1947 movie adaptation, shot entirely as if you’re seeing everything through Philip Marlowe’s eyes!)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Audio Reviews reflectPW's assessment of the audio adaptation of a book and should be quoted only in reference to the audio version.FictionTHE LADY IN THE LAKERaymond Chandler, read by Elliot Gould. New Millennium Audio, abridged, two cassettes, 2.5 hours, $18, Robert Altman's 1973 film version of The Long Goodbye wasn't anybody's idea of traditional Chandler, but Gould was certainly an interesting variation on Philip Marlowe shabby and shambling, grinning boyishly, he was light-years away from the slicker, more worldly-wise actors (Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, Robert Mitchum, James Garner) who walked down Chandler's mean streets in Marlowe's shoes. Now Gould has translated his unusual vision to this fascinating, if somewhat abrupt, audio adaptation of one of Chandler's least appreciated novels, which finds the increasingly disgruntled and heavy-drinking author moving Marlowe away from the urban jungle of Los Angeles to the mountains and lakes on the fringes of the city, where a detective in a suit and a snap-brim hat looks and feels instantly out of place. Gould catches this fish-out-of-water quality perfectly, as he follows the trail of the missing wife of a perfume magnate and stumbles across several bodies. Although this abridgment clips the edges of many of Chandler's descriptive passages, it appears to leave untouched one of the most chilling scenes in all of crime fiction the discovery of the body of the titular lady and Gould gives a superbly chilling reading of the text.
Customer Reviews
The Lady in the Lake
Raymond Chandler weaved stories in his style that kept me on the edge of my seat! I’ll start the next story very soon.