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The Lady in the Lake

By Raymond Chandler
Series: Penguin Essentials
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler is a gripping crime and thriller novel featuring the iconic private detective Philip Marlowe. Set in the 1940s, Marlowe is hired to locate a missing wife, leading him into a web of murder, deceit, and corruption in Los Angeles and a mountain town. As he unravels the mystery, Marlowe navigates a series of unexpected twists and turns, showcasing Chandler's masterful storytelling and atmospheric writing.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate classic crime fiction and the hard-boiled detective genre. With Raymond Chandler's signature sharp dialogue, intricate plot and complex characters, this story offers a compelling exploration of human nature and moral ambiguity. It's an intriguing read for those who love a blend of mystery and gritty realism.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The classic Chandler mystery, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time.

Derace Kingsley's wife ran away to Mexico to get a quickie divorce and marry a Casanova-wannabe named Chris Lavery. Or so the note she left her husband insisted. Trouble is, when Philip Marlowe asks Lavery about it, he denies everything and sends the private investigator packing with a flea lodged firmly in his ear.

But when Marlowe next encounters Lavery, he's denying nothing—on account of the two bullet holes in his heart. Now Marlowe's on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy LA all the way to a murky mountain lake.

Series: Penguin Essentials

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Raymond Chandler's The Lady in the Lake is highly praised for creating a quintessential American hero in Philip Marlowe, embodying qualities like cynicism and rebellion. Chandler's writing style offers a unique perspective of America, marked by wised-up and poetic prose that elevates his crime novels beyond typical genre fiction. Esteemed voices consider him a literary stylist and his work a gripping, compelling read that redefines the private eye narrative.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241978931

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 August 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Jonathan Kellerman

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 111.0mm

Height: 181.0mm

Weight: 163g

Pages: 288

Collections

Crime & Thriller Fiction General Fiction Penguin Books Raymond Chandler Series: Penguin Essentials

About the Author

Best-known as the creator of the original private eye, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, and he is widely regarded as one of the very greatest writers of detective fiction.

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  • The Big Sleep and Other Novels
    Raymond Chandler created the fast-talking, trouble-seeking Californian private eye Philip Marlowe for his first great novel, The Big Sleep, in 1939. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family—and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures—is the background to a story reflecting all the tarnished glitter of the great American Dream. The detective's iconic image burns just as brightly in Farewell My...
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  • Farewell My Lovely: Popular Penguins
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  • The Lady in the Lake: Popular Penguins
    A woman has been reported missing to detective Marlowe and a corpse is found in the lake. Yet it is not the body of the missing person, but that of one of her neighbours. Now Marlowe's on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy LA all the way to a murky mountain lake... The Lady in...
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