The Lady in the Lake

By Raymond Chandler

Yet again, Chandler caught me out, and this time it was with the most obvious twist imaginable. The story was great, lucid and well described and I don't wonder if Chandler got better with age. The characters were so well drawn that I had actors in my head, Michael Madsen as Degarmo and Rod Steiger as Patton. I still can't decide who would play Marlowe. Humprhey Bogart doesn't work at all for me, and Robert Montgomery is just a little too 'nice'. Elliot Gould, Robert Mitchum and James Garner have all also played the character in their time, but none of them works for me at all. I see Marlowe as a big man, slightly rough faced, but well dressed and generally suave and with very intelligent eyes. Something like Tom Selleck with a touch of Tom Sizemore perhaps...

Some one really ought to bring this character back to the big screen!

The best thing about Raymond Chandler I think is his ability to describe people. His characters are barely sketched at times, and yet they jump right off the page. I can see their faces, their eyes, smell their perfume, sweat and anger. Every word they speak works within the context of the characters and there is a lot left undescribed that follows automatically. Chandler can convey a mans mood by describing how his arm hangs at his side or how he lights a cigarette. This ability to create a scene with so few words, keeps the story short and tight, and yet as befitting good noir literature, the plot twists and turns keeping the reader at arms length until the truth is finally revealed, and then you get slapped in the face.

Shame about the cover ilustration though. I really wonder what people are thinking when they choose to publish something with a cover like that.