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Philip Marlowe #3-5
The Lady in the Lake and Other Novels
An omnibus comprising Raymond Chandler's three Philip Marlowe novels, The Lady in the Lake, The High Window and The Little Sister.
594 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
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About the author
Raymond Chandler
449 books5,601 followersRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other Black Mask writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
The Big Sleep placed second on the Crime Writers Association poll of the 100 best crime novels; Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943) and The Long Goodbye (1953) also made the list. The latter novel was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field. In it he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."
Parker wrote that, with Marlowe, "Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious—an innocent who knows better, a Romantic who is tough enough to sustain Romanticism in a world that has seen the eternal footman hold its coat and snicker. Living at the end of the Far West, where the American dream ran out of room, no hero has ever been more congruent with his landscape. Chandler had the right hero in the right place, and engaged him in the consideration of good and evil at precisely the time when our central certainty of good no longer held."
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 20, 2020
Quite memorable. Highly recommended.
December 25, 2024
I'd already read and reviewed The Lady in the Lake, but this volume includes two other Chandler classics, The High Window and The Little Sister. The former was very good; the latter, fantastic. Both feature succinct, brutal and evocative descriptions of the grittier side of Los Angeles and the people who inhabit those environs. Both bring the reader into the head of Philip Marlowe, the cynical, world-weary, down-and-out PI, who's no stranger to darkness yet somehow has retained his humanity in the face of violence, deceit and exploitation of the weak.
The Little Sister is much longer than The High Window, with a plot that is feverishly complex. Who is responsible for the multiple murders? The answers change in each chapter, as Marlowe digs deeper into the sordid details of the case. Perhaps the best part of the book, however, is a sequence in which Chandler describes the psychological effects of smoking a cigarette laced with the poison potassium cyanide. The sequence is scary, vivid and hallucinogenic, but it has the ring of truth. One has to wonder where Chandler got his details.
Unfortunately, Raymond Chandler wrote only a handful of Philip Marlowe novels. Next on my list: The Big Sleep.
There's a reason some books become classics.
The Little Sister is much longer than The High Window, with a plot that is feverishly complex. Who is responsible for the multiple murders? The answers change in each chapter, as Marlowe digs deeper into the sordid details of the case. Perhaps the best part of the book, however, is a sequence in which Chandler describes the psychological effects of smoking a cigarette laced with the poison potassium cyanide. The sequence is scary, vivid and hallucinogenic, but it has the ring of truth. One has to wonder where Chandler got his details.
Unfortunately, Raymond Chandler wrote only a handful of Philip Marlowe novels. Next on my list: The Big Sleep.
There's a reason some books become classics.
October 27, 2019
Just brilliant - the writing and characters are more than enough to sustain my interest, but impressed too by his genuine indignation at the acceptance of and connivance with corruption in California, rage at racism and poverty. Far more complex stuff than I ever imagined on picking up my first book of his, and still doesn't seem to get the credit he deserves. And how could I have forgotten: full of black humour but also wit and simply laugh out loud sentences.....
December 1, 2014
"You're not human tonight, Marlowe."
October 29, 2019
Lean writing, mean characters, and even some humour.
October 10, 2019
I’ve been looking for hard boiled detective novels for a long time but somehow never stumbled across the works of Mr Chandler. I think I enjoyed this collection of stories more because of that. Phillip Marlowe is the epitome of a Private Investigator and the prose and style of the book are wonderfully descriptive yet elegantly simple. Marlowe’s world is one where you can’t trust anyone, everyone has a secret just waiting to be dragged out into the seedy light. Set in a city known for its’ glitz and glamour, we only see the seedy underbelly, alongside Marlowe, the honest PI who can’t catch a break
September 10, 2018
Classic detective novel evoking Bogie at his best. Somewhat too gritty, dry, and laconic for my particular tastes but perfect for those of you out there who like your detectives dry with a side of nicotine. As an addendum: remember that Chandler was born in the late 19th century and forgive, if you can, the casual sexism, rascism, and maschismo that pervades his novels.
February 11, 2020
Of the three stories ...
The first is good fun. Four stars.
The second is probably better written, but the twist is to be expected. Maybe it wasn't a cliche when the book was first written. Dunno. Five stars.
The third is just preposterous. Still fun, but I did rather stop caring! Three stars. Albeit nearly four.
Overall four stars is fair.
The first is good fun. Four stars.
The second is probably better written, but the twist is to be expected. Maybe it wasn't a cliche when the book was first written. Dunno. Five stars.
The third is just preposterous. Still fun, but I did rather stop caring! Three stars. Albeit nearly four.
Overall four stars is fair.
April 30, 2025
excellent writing
It’s hard to imagine how a crime is committed, even harder to describe the crime was carried out with details of the room, the place, the murder weapon and the people the detective suspected. But Chandler made a great attempt to bring me to the scenes.
And was what worth the read.
It’s hard to imagine how a crime is committed, even harder to describe the crime was carried out with details of the room, the place, the murder weapon and the people the detective suspected. But Chandler made a great attempt to bring me to the scenes.
And was what worth the read.
August 16, 2025
loved the cynicism of marlowe, hardboiled dialogues and crisp-realistic atmosphere... can't praise enough! though I found the little sister mildly average compared to the other two... but became a chandler fan!
December 22, 2019
The Little Sister, a lesser known work, is Chandler at his most lyrical. HIghly recommended.
April 2, 2020
The bee's wax !
May 14, 2021
Been a while since I read any detective stories. Enjoyable, but very dated.
December 28, 2024
4,5 ⭐️
December 31, 2024
Only notable novel was The lady in the lake & other two were meh kinda average. Big let down.
June 29, 2015
The Lady in the Lake is a hardboiled mystery novel written and set in the forties. Private detective Phillip Marlowe has been hired by a wealthy client, whose wife has gone missing. He fears she may have gotten into trouble after sending him a wire that she was marrying another guy. His investigation finds a second woman missing, also someone’s wife. As he digs further, he finds a complicated web of entanglements.
This is the first novel I’ve read from Raymond Chandler, and I didn’t much care for it. The problem I had with the novel is that I found it to be very confusing. There was a constant infusion of characters that were mostly taking place off screen, and at some point I got lost in all of the characters and details. After that happened, I couldn’t quite get back into it. I found the writing to be competent and solid, and the character of Phillip Marlowe to be an interesting one, but the actual plot didn’t meet my expectations.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
This is the first novel I’ve read from Raymond Chandler, and I didn’t much care for it. The problem I had with the novel is that I found it to be very confusing. There was a constant infusion of characters that were mostly taking place off screen, and at some point I got lost in all of the characters and details. After that happened, I couldn’t quite get back into it. I found the writing to be competent and solid, and the character of Phillip Marlowe to be an interesting one, but the actual plot didn’t meet my expectations.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
December 12, 2009
More of the best on the dark and seamy world of the Private Eye.
Read
February 28, 2015It seemed as if I was reading a screenplay.
April 14, 2022
Crime classic, as good as it gets.
Read
May 10, 2019This is a very old book. (My dads). And very good.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews