Raymond Chandler is a very well-known and highly regarded author of hard-boiled mysteries featuring Philip Marlowe. He was also a major influence on future writers in that subgenre. I have read five of the Philip Marlowe novels and I rate all of them very highly. However, it is not the mystery plots that keep me coming back, it is Chandler's writing style that I love.
The Lady in the Lake
Philip Marlowe, a private detective with an office in Hollywood, is hired by Derace Kingsley to find his wife, who has been missing for about a month. The marriage was on shaky ground anyway, and he had received a telegram that she was going to Mexico to get a divorce and marry another man, Chris Lavery. Then a few weeks later, he is told that her car had been left unclaimed at a San Bernardino hotel. He is mostly concerned that she is going to cause some kind of scandal and he will lose his job.
The plot does get very complex. Kingsley has a cabin on a private lake in the mountains near San Bernardino. Bill Chess is the caretaker for the cabins on the lake; his wife, Muriel, left him about the same time Kingsley's wife supposedly left for Mexico. When Marlowe goes to the lake to interview Chess, they find a decomposed dead body in the lake. Chess assumes it is his wife. There are many characters involved, and an excess of suspects.
In addition to the beautiful writing and the terrific dialogue, there were several appealing things about The Lady in the Lake. The book was published in 1943, and it was written after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The US was involved in World War II and there is evidence of this throughout the book. This book also seemed to have more humor than other books in the series.
The edition above of The Lady in the Lake is my favorite. It has cover art by Tom Adams, who also illustrated the covers for many paperback editions of Agatha Cristie's mysteries.
The Long Goodbye
I read The Long Goodbye over two years ago, in 2022. I didn't write a full review at the time and I decided this would be a good time to review it.
In this book Philip Marlow gets involved with two very messed-up men, both alcoholics. Terry Lennox hires Marlowe to drive him to Mexico, no questions asked, and Marlowe goes along with it, because he trusts Lennox. When he gets back to L.A. he finds that Lennox's wife is dead and the police think that Lennox killed her. Following this, Marlowe is hired to find a once successful author, Roger Wade, who has been missing for three days. He finds him and returns him to his wife at their beach house. They want Marlowe to stay with them and keep Wade sober and working on his book. Marlowe doesn't want to get involved with that situation but he keeps getting dragged back into it. That doesn't sound like a complex story but there are many characters, and the two "cases" start to merge.
These are my notes from two years ago shortly after I read the book:
The writing is beautiful. The reading experience was wonderful, even if the plot confused me (and defies description without spoiling the story). This seemed very different from the first three books. Marlowe never has a real client in this one. He tries to help two different people, over several months time, and neither one seems to deserve his help. The whole experience seems aimless but all the threads come together in the end, with some surprises.
The Long Goodbye was published in 1953, 10 years after The Lady in the Lake was published. It is the 6th book in the series.
19 comments:
I agree with you, Tracy, about Chandler's writing style. That's what drew me into his work. His plots do, as you say, get complex, and there are sub-plots to follow. But to me, anyway, it's worth that effort, because the stories are interesting and the writing styl is so effective.
My daughter, Megan, would certainly agree with you.
Margot, I did not realize until I wrote this post that I had given all five of the books that I have read 5 stars at Goodreads. Each of the books really made an impression when I read them.
Patti, I can understand why Megan feels that way. I am glad I did not review The Long Goodbye until I had read The Lady in the Lake, because I could take a look at two of Chandler's books together. I will definitely be reading The Little Sister next. Not so sure about Playback.
I don't read a lot of "hard boiled" crime, but I wouldn't mind giving one of his a try sometime. I love the cover art for The Lady in the Lake!
Kelly, I have read a good bit of hard-boiled crime fiction over the years, but I don't lean that way so much these days. However Raymond Chandler is such an excellent writer, he is a special case. And another favorite of mine is Ross Macdonald. He started writing during the 1940s and continued through the 1970s. I have only read 4 of the books in his Lew Archer series; the author lived in Santa Barbara with his wife Margaret Millar.
Raymond Chandler and James M Cain are two giants in the world of hard-boiled fiction. I must read them. I wonder why Chandler goes in for such complex plots because as you say his writing is excellent and so when it comes to plots sometimes less is more.
Kathy, I agree with you on both of those authors but I haven't read a lot by Cain. I will have to look for more of his books. I have wondered why Chandler had so many characters and such labyrinthine plots, but I can say his books don't get slow and bog down. They have a good pace.
I haven't read anything by Raymond Chandler, partly due to not being keen on hard-boiled crime fiction. However, you make The Lady in the Lake sound so good that I will see if I can get hold of a copy. I will give anything a try once.
He's one of those classic authors that I've never read...yet. I hope to try at least one of his books sometime. The Lady in the Lake sounds good. But is there another book of his that you liked even more?
I really love Chandler's work. We as fans of the genre owe so much to him because of how heavily he influenced so many of our favorite authors who came along after him. His novels, as you mentioned, can be rather surprisingly complex at times, but they are always entertaining. He was really good at capturing his time and place, I think.
PLAYBACK is the work of a writer going through the motions...no more Necessary than the "completed-by" novels from Robert Parker. THE LONG GOODBYE is my own favorite of his.
Cath, I liked The Lady in the Lake especially because, even though the plot is complicated it is still more straightforward than others he wrote. Also he describes the areas in and around LA so well.
Lark, my favorite book by Chandler so far is Farewell, My Lovely. It was his second book and I liked the characters a lot. The Big Sleep was another favorite for me because I loved the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Sam, That is so true about Chandler capturing his time and place. In The Lady in the Lake, Marlowe drives in various parts of LA and surrounding areas, through San Bernardino, and up into the mountains where the temps are much cooler. It feels so real.
Todd, I am partial to Farewell, My Lovely but really all of the novels I read were very very good and it is hard to rank them. Based on what I have read about Playback, I may skip it. I have considered trying some of the Philip Marlowe books written by other authors, but I would not expect them to have the same impact at all.
POODLE SPRINGS, as an obvious example, is readable enough, but with considerably less bite than Chandler's better work.
FWIW--online link to a free play of the HBO telefilm version of POODLE SPRINGS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmAv-lb9KGA (I haven't seen it yet, might look at it soon)
I have not tried Chandler before but perhaps I should try The Big Sleep. I'm good if it doesn't get bogged down and the pace keeps going. Thx for these reviews ... they give me an idea of what his work is like.
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