1943 • republished by Vintage Books
266 pages / ISBN 0394758250 / $13.95 paperback
During the Second World War's 'lights-out' period, Raymond Chandler wrote two Philip Marlowe novels in quick succession. The overall results were mixed: 'The High Window' (1942) was judged by Chandler as his absolute worst novel and still lacks the popularity of his others. 'The Lady in the Lake' (1943), while a best-seller, has an unusual approach that seems rushed and not entirely convincing. Chandler, as it turned out, would not publish another Marlowe novel for six years (until 'The Little Sister' in 1949), choosing to deal with other projects that included a film version of 'The Big Sleep' starring Humphrey Bogart.
In 'The Lady in the Lake,' Chandler's fourth Marlowe novel, Philip is hired by a Los Angeles cosmetics executive, Derace Kingsley, to track down his wife, Crystal, who may have fled to Mexico with her extramarital lover. Marlowe is directed to the Kingsleys' vacation home on Little Fawn Lake in the rural California hills and faces a secondary murder case when he discovers an unidentifiable woman's body. Chandler again uses circular plotting, with Marlowe going through a nutty investigation before finding himself almost exactly where he began.
'The Lady in the Lake' is a rather odd detective story, in that Chandler tries to focus entirely upon character. The book is steeped in dialogue; there is very little action, with Marlowe drawing his gun just once and never firing it. Chandler is at his stylistic best in the rural scenes, where he uses quiet, empty landscapes to build tension. Most impressive are his descriptions of the settings and use of animals such as birds and squirrels to color the situation at hand. Chandler pulls off genuinely eerie moments whose solitude carries an omen, sometimes in broad daylight.
Unfortunately, 'The Lady in the Lake' wastes an opportunity to take Marlowe in new directions. Not enough time, for example, is spent at Little Fawn Lake; far too much of the novel reverts to inner-city houses and buildings, locations that are usual for Marlowe. Chandler fares brilliantly in the rural scenes, but we don't seem to hang around them for very long. Marlowe's investigation at Little Fawn Lake spans about fifty pages before we find ourselves back in a seedy hotel room.
For a novel that emphasizes character, Chandler only scrapes the psychology that 'The Lady in the Lake' wants so badly to focus upon. Most of the characters are standard noir types of only modest depth: the dandy businessman, the sly secretary, the rogue lover, the uncouth policeman. Chandler also seems distracted by America's growing involvement in the Second World War, with its population living in a kind of 'safe haven,' oblivious to the battles raging across Europe and Asia (save for Pearl Harbor). There are moments when Chandler reveals his irritation towards the U.S. military's growing presence and America's wartime economy. Coupled with the other rough edges, it sometimes feels as if Chandler just wants to get things over with.
And to top off this disappointment, Chandler's ending in which he reveals the murderer feels hacked out of a novel by Agatha Christie, one of the authors whom Chandler was known to dislike. Marlowe finds himself back in the Kingsley cabin at Little Fawn Lake and narrows down the suspects one by one, in typical whodunit fashion. The outcome isn't that much of a surprise and on the novel's last page, Chandler throws in a bungled message about the coming war. This ending feels tacked-on, as if Chandler wasn't entirely sure (or concerned) of how to end it.
Despite its strong points, 'The Lady in the Lake' is no match for such novels as 'Farewell, My Lovely' and 'The Long Goodbye.' The plot is very much a hit-and-miss affair, sometimes with effective twists and sometimes contrived. The Lady in the Lake's storyline just doesn't crackle the way it should. Dialogue is generally up to par for Chandler, but there are moments when the speech is too formal or stilted. The novel may have needed a rewrite, which never happened; after sixty years, 'The Lady in the Lake' is a serviceable novel that fails to deliver in the clutch.
Chandler will always be a superior crime novelist to most of his rivals. 'The Lady in the Lake' boasts a high level of craft and is worth sitting down for, but there are other Marlowe tales that could be read first. For curious readers and Marlowe completists, 'The Lady in the Lake' is available in a recent edition from Black Lizard, the crime label of Vintage Books. Black Lizard has released all of Chandler's Marlowe novels in art deco format with attractive cover art. 'The Lady in the Lake' is 266 pages long and retails at $13.95.
