The Lady In The Lake
Raymond Chandler's fourth Philip Marlowe novel is 1943's The Lady In The Lake -- a tale of missing wives and the tangled web they leave behind. If The High Window felt a wee bit routine, this volume definitely improves upon that. Not that it's wildly action-packed in comparison (though Marlowe does take a police beating in this one), but the prose quality is pushed yet another level higher. Chandler's renderings of settings and atmosphere is particularly strong. Not that the dialog slouches either. Great stuff.
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