The Lady in the Lake

The Lady in the Lake

Cover of the first edition
Author	Raymond Chandler
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Philip Marlowe
Genre	Detective, Crime, Novel
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	1943
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages	216 pp
Preceded by	The High Window
Followed by	The Little Sister

The Lady in the Lake is a 1943 detective novel by Raymond Chandler featuring, as do all his major works, the Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe. Notable for its removal of Marlowe from his usual Los Angeles environs for much of the book, the novel's complicated plot initially deals with the case of a missing woman in a small mountain town some 80 miles (130 km) from the city. The book was written shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and makes several references to America's recent involvement in World War II.

Derace Kingsley, a wealthy businessman, hires Marlowe to find his estranged wife, Crystal. Although separated from his wife, Kingsley fears that Crystal— rich, pretty, spoiled and reckless—may have become involved in a scandal that could jeopardize his position with the shareholders of the company of which he is an executive. The last definite place Crystal was known to have been was their vacation cabin on Little Fawn Lake. Kingsley had received a telegram from Crystal about two weeks before (dateline El Paso, Texas) stating that she was divorcing him and marrying her gigolo boyfriend, Chris Lavery. But when Kingsley ran into Lavery in L.A. and asked him where Crystal was, Lavery told him that he hadn't seen her, wasn't with her in El Paso, didn't know where she was, and never agreed, or wanted, to marry her.

Marlowe begins his investigation with a visit to Chris Lavery in the corrupt neighboring town of Bay City (modeled on Santa Monica). Lavery disclaims any interest in or involvement with Crystal Kingsley. While watching Lavery's house, Marlowe is threatened by the police, who suspect him of watching Lavery's neighbor, Dr. Almore. A tough cop named Al Degarmo accuses Marlowe of harassing Almore. Marlowe discovers that Almore's wife died under suspicious circumstances and that her death was probably hushed up by the police.

Marlowe moves his investigations to Little Fawn Lake. Kingsley has given him a note to the caretaker of his vacation home, Bill Chess. Chess is in an alcoholic haze, depressed over having been abandoned by his wife, Muriel, at about the same time as Crystal disappeared. As Marlowe and Chess walk over the property, they discover a drowned body that Chess identifies as his wife, bloated from decomposition and almost unrecognizable except by her clothes and jewelry. Chess is immediately arrested for his wife's murder, and Marlowe, doubtful of Chess's guilt, returns to Los Angeles. Before he returns, Marlowe interviews some hotel employees who remember a woman matching Crystal's description and volunteer that a man was with her; their description of the man is similar to that of Lavery.