The Lady in the Lake 1943 detective book

Name: The Lady in the Lake
Rating: 4.2 (83 reviews)

The Lady in the Lake 1943 detective story

The Lady in the Lake (1943, United States)

Derace Kingsley, a rich businessman, hires private detective Philip Marlowe to locate his estranged wife, Crystal. The last contact from her was over two weeks ago in a form of a telegram saying she is leaving with her lover, Chris Lavery, and is planning to marry him. Lavery denied he left with Crystal and said he had no plans to marry her, but Kingsley did not believed him. That is why he hired Marlowe to locate the woman and find out what ha happened to her. The first stop of the investigation is the Lavery’s house, where the man again denies that he has anything to do with Crystal Kingsley leaving her husband. Marlowe is starting to believe him, but after the meeting, while he was sitting in his car, detective spotted doctor Almore living across the street. He spotted him because doctor Almore seems to take a lot of interest in what a man sitting in the car could be doing right here. Minutes later a policeman shows up and starts to ask questions regarding what Marlowe is doing here and that he should leave Almore alone. The private detective leaves, but is intrigued why Almore suddenly felt threatened of him just sitting there. The next stop of the investigation Little Fawn Lake, where Kingsley has vacation cabin and where his wife spent her last weeks before disappearing. Marlowe meets Bill Chess, the caretaker of the cabins on the premises. During their conversation Chess tells him some things that he observed while Crystal Kingsley was there, but also mentions that his wife left the Little Fawn Lake the same day as Mrs. Kingsley. Soon after, the two make a startling discovery.

One of the Raymond Chandler novels with his most iconic character, private detective Philip Marlowe. This novel is slightly unusual, mostly because it is one of very few that took the character out of urban areas and he is trying to solve the mystery in places away from Los Angeles. The mystery and the atmosphere are the same like in the other Chandler detective novels, although the plot is rather slow-paced and quite few parts are just recaptions of what has happened just few pages before.

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