Leah’s Reviews > The High Window > Status Update

‘Oh hell and fireflies,’ I said and went out to the kitchen and gobbled a quick drink, before we started. It didn’t do me any good. It just made me want to climb up the wall and gnaw my way across the ceiling.

‘Phil Marlowe,’ he said. ‘The shop-soiled Galahad.’

‘I don’t want to be too cynical, Marlowe. But you’d be surprised how many girls marry to find a home, especially girls whose arm muscles are all tired out fighting off the kind of optimists that come into these gin and glitter joints.’

At the entrance to the dining-room a chubby captain of waiters stood negligently with a two-inch satin stripe on his pants and a bunch of gold-plated menus under his arm. He had the sort of face that can turn from a polite simper to cold-blooded fury almost without moving a muscle.

(I just love the way Chandler can describe things so that you know exactly what he feels)

‘His marriage,’ she said nastily, ‘was a momentary impulse. Afterwards he tried to act like a gentleman. I have no such scruples.’ ‘It takes three days to have that kind of momentary impulse in California, Mrs Murdock.’