The Lady in the Lake [1943]
By Raymond Chandler
233 pages (Kindle Digital Edition)
Rating 4/5
Genres : Mystery, Fiction, Hardboiled, Noir.
A rich man engages Philip Marlowe to figure the whereabouts of his missing wife. She had gone missing a month ago and had sent a wire saying that she was getting married to someone. The man denies any such arrangement and this has the husband worried about the welfare of his wife. After Marlowe takes up the case, he uncovers another case linked to this in which a neighbor's wife has also gone missing the same day as the rich man's wife. A dead body is recovered from the lake near the cabin and the very next day, more dead bodies turn up. Key people linked with the case start getting murdered and who has the most to gain from this? Or is this all linked to covering up some past history? A game being played by two ex lovers endangering many lives?
I love whodunit and hardboiled noir fiction very much. Though there are witty remarks flying around Marlowe and other cops in the novel, I was able to piece together some missing pieces and make some key connections that removed some suspense from the plot. But nevertheless, it is a good read especially when Marlowe puts two plus two together and has the antagonist right in front of him all along! With a mystery like this one, it is hard to tell the ending without telling the whole story.
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