The Lady in the Lake

Another case for Marlowe. A runaway wife, a telegram to the wealthy husband Kingsley, saying Am crossing to get Mexican divorce stop Will marry Chris stop Good luck and goodbye crystal. The man doesn't really want her back, just wants to know where she is to ensure there is no scandal that will rub off on him. At the cabin in the mountains, Marlowe's investigation leads him Kingsley's alcoholic caretaker. His wife has disappeared too. Too much of a coincidence? Maybe.

This is a somewhat convoluted story, perhaps without some of the polish the I have come to expect from Chandler. But, to be fair the story eventually rolls out, and it has its twists and turns. There was some great genre writing here, but I though it was down on the great one-liners and descriptive prose that was so fantastic in the earlier books - especially the first and second. It didn't exactly fall flat, but for me the convoluted plot and lack of descriptors we come to expect left this at 3 stars not 4 or 5.

Still, no regrets, it was short book, a quick easy read, and still very entertaining.

P371.
I smelled of gin. Not just casually, as if I had taken four or five drinks of a winter morning to get out of bed on, but as if the Pacific Ocean was pure gin and I had nosedived off the boat deck. The gin was in my hair and eyebrows, on my chin and under my chin. It was on my shirt. I smelled like dead toads.My coat was off and I was lying flat on my back beside the davenport on somebody's carpet and I was looking at a framed picture...I reached up wearily and felt the back of my head. It felt pulpy. A shoot of pain from the touch went clear to the soles of my feet. I groaned, and made a grunt out of the groan, from professional pride - what was left of it.

3.5 stars, rounded down.