Helpful Score: 1
Another good one in the Marlowe series. Marlowe is hired to find the missing wife of a Los Angeles business man. The wife has left him but he wants to make sure she is safe from harm. The trail leads to the businessman's cabin in the mountains near San Bernardino on a small lake called Little Fawn Lake. The caretaker there is also missing his wife but she is soon discovered when Marlowe goes out on a small dock; the lady's arms are seen deep in the water. How was she drowned? Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? And what happened to the businessman's wife? She was last heard from in El Paso on her way to get a divorce in Mexico. But the man she was supposedly with, denies this story and he later ends up dead. So Marlowe has some detective work to do and all is definitely not as it seems.
As usual, I really enjoyed this ride with Marlowe in his noir world of the 1940s. The novel has some hints of WWII going on but this is not a focal point of the novel (It was published in 1944). I enjoyed the leisurely world of the San Bernardino mountains as well as the seamier side of Chandler's Bay City where a lot of this takes place. The plot was somewhat convoluted as most of Chandler's novels tend to be but this really adds to the story. This one was also made into a movie in 1946 with Robert Montgomery playing Marlowe. Another one to look out for!
As usual, I really enjoyed this ride with Marlowe in his noir world of the 1940s. The novel has some hints of WWII going on but this is not a focal point of the novel (It was published in 1944). I enjoyed the leisurely world of the San Bernardino mountains as well as the seamier side of Chandler's Bay City where a lot of this takes place. The plot was somewhat convoluted as most of Chandler's novels tend to be but this really adds to the story. This one was also made into a movie in 1946 with Robert Montgomery playing Marlowe. Another one to look out for!
I like Chandler in all of his novels. I rate this one a 3.5 out of five, not his best, but still good. I found it interesting how he describes each new scene in detail, reminiscent of PD James.
Detective Philip Marlowe is on a strange search for a missing woman.
Good book
