Hope it's all right to veer off into another forum, but I thought this novel deserved special mention, as I actually 'got' the plot! My first clear reading of a Raymond Chandler novel!

To keep it on topic, there are two quotes from this story that I liked enough to jot down - is there a Wikipage for Chandler One is a description of a witness interviewed by Marlowe: 'He looked like a horse that had found itself in the wrong stable' (possibly paraphrasing, I'll check), and the other is a fantastic verbal painting of 'that type' of blonde, by the Cool Brunette who Marlowe finds himself drawn to - I shall have to source both of these, if there is a home for them!

'Lady in the Lake' is a typical Marlowe story, but the mountain setting changes the tone somewhat - and the deceptively apathetic sheriff, Patton - who wants re-electing, as he's 'too old to go to work' - is a fantastic comedy character. But more importantly, I understood the thing - where the tangled web began, who killed who and why ... I might have to read it again to pick up on all the subtleties, but I'm still impressed

Absolutely That's what this forum (and wiki) is intended for. Why concentrate only on Rex Stout? This site is meant to serve, equally, all great authors, writing in any language.


Not only this one by Chandler, I'm sure. Later on (after I complete the announced forum software upgrade, allowing us to create sub-categories within individual forums), there will be a separate discussion forum exclusively for Raymond Chandler – just like Rex Stout has his own forum on this site. All great writers will get their separate discussion forums on this site; and Chandler certainly is significant.

(Although, if you ask me, despite my love and great admiration for Chandler, I slightly prefer both Stout and Hammett over Chandler. As to Christie, I believe she's about equal to Chandler in my eyes. I love them both to death, though not as much as Stout and Hammett. We've already discussed this a bit in a Rex Stout thread while comparing Archie Goodwin and Phil Marlowe.)


Yes, I've just created one for The Lady in the Lake And I linked it to this discussion topic you've just set up, adding the reverse link to the quotes webpage at the top of this thread to complete the full circle of hyperlinks.

I have quite a number of quotations from The Lady in the Lake myself, but it will take some time before I get around to posting them online.

In the meantime, Adonis, if you wish, you may go ahead and create quotations pages for all the remaining Raymond Chandler volumes. As to how you create a new wiki quotations page, you may review the simple procedure HERE. (Explained on the example of Moby Dick in that post. Simply replace Moby Dick with the title of any book by Chandler.)


I agree, and the mountains seem, primarily, to be what makes this novel so memorable By “mountains” we, of course, also mean the unfortunate lady in the lake herself, and the gloomy, dismal scenes surrounding the discovery of her body (impossible to forget, aren't they?).

Equally memorable and highly evocative is Marlowe's long car ride into the mountains of California. Wasn't there a remark somewhere about “the girls on bicycles and their fat thighs”? That will definitely be one of those quotations I'll be submitting!


Hm, I've read the novel maybe two times so far, but I've again completely forgotten the novel's mystery plot. I've no idea who killed whom, and I don't want or need to know (until I re-read the novel once more). Well, I simply don't care about the mystery angle in Chandler's stories, just as the whodunnit is unimportant to me in a Hammett or Rex Stout volume.

I shall do that - I intend to re-read The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye soon, after buying my own copies to complete the collection I have, so I shall note down my favourite imagery and one-liners (I will have to be severe with my selection, as I love Chandler's writing!)



Oh, I always forget, but it's such a challenge to feel that I'm hanging on to the plot(s) for dear life as the story is still fresh in my mind! I've just read an essay on The Lady in the Lake, actually, linked from the Wikipedia entry on this novel, which says the conclusion doesn't make any sense - shows how much I thought I knew! I picked up on the possible discrepancy - SEMI-SPOILER! - with Lavery and the telegram whilst reading, but my trust in Chandler is such that I thought he had tied it up by the end

No need to be severe, Adonis. If a novel really is a masterpiece, I don't see a problem with presenting 100 or 150 quotes from such a rare masterpiece.

Whenever determining in your mind whether a quotation deserves to be presented on these webpages or not, please follow the simple guidelines stated on this site's copyright protection webpage.

If you feel, based on those guidelines, that an excerpt deserves to be presented here, by all means do so, no matter if it's the excerpt number 7 or number 77 for a particular volume you're quoting from.

*blinks* This place seems vaguely familiar ...

Could you create a page for 'The Big Sleep', please? I've recently re-read Chandler's first novel, after attending an interesting lecture on the author, and I've picked out a couple of quotes that either made me laugh or really caught my attention; plus an alternative opinion of orchids, which I would be inclined to agree with!

And it all makes sense, now: I never knew that Chandler wrote his first couple of novels by 'cannibalising' his own short stories, and glueing together three completely different plots. That's why 'The Big Sleep' and 'The Long Goodbye' make no sense - he even admitted that he was also at a loss as to who killed the chauffeur in the first book!

(I'm also reacquainting myself with Archie and Wolfe, and I've just ordered 'A Family Affair' - hope there will be somebody to chat about it with when I've finished ..!)

Here you go. Also, there's now a separate discussion forum topic for The Big Sleep.


Hmmm... But Chandler's first two novels are The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely, aren't they (1939 and 1940, respectively.) The Long Goodbye comes much later (1954) and is usually held to be Chandler's finest novel. (I concur.)