[SensualPoet]

Chicago born novelist / screenwriter Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) wrote only seven novels, all of them concerning private detective Philip Marlowe. The Lady in the Lake, published in Nov 1943, was his fourth, completed as he was about to embark on new phase of his career as a Hollywood script writer. Chandler didn't care much for Hollywood as is evident from two pieces he wrote for The Atlantic Monthly, one in Nov 1945 "Writers in Hollywood" and another in Mar 1948 "Oscar Night in Hollywood" (both online at theatlantic.com).

In Lady in the Lake, Detective Philip Marlowe is looking for a missing wife, who is not really missed much by her husband -- nor by her boy friend who didn't go missing with her. Unlike most of his other stories, the main action does not take place in Los Angeles or Bay City but, not surprisingly given the title, near a lake (with a side trip to Mexico). But rest assured dead bodies do turn up, as well as corruption by those in authority and who hold power over others' lives. There's plenty of action and plot twists and, best of all, some of Chandler's most sophisticated and atmospheric writing.

In Jan 1947, The Lady in the Lake was released by MGM starring Robert Montgomery and Audrey Totter, and also directed by Robert Montgomery. It used the technique (some would say bizarre gimmick) of shooting the entire film "through the eyes" of Marlowe; we only see Montgomery's face once, in a mirror.