They never came tougher than Marlowe, a cynical, world-weary, wise-cracking shamus whose honesty in a dishonest world sent him down the mean streets again and again in search of some kind of justice.

Blonde, beautiful and wild, Crystal Kingsley had never exactly been the faithful little wife. But when she goes missing for a month, and then a woman's body surfaces in an isolated mountain lake, murder-a-day Marlowe is back in business.

When the body in the lake turns out not to be Crystal at all - it is in fact one of her neighbours - Philip Marlowe can sniff the beginnings of a mystery. Hired by Derace Kingsley to find his missing wife, Marlowe soon discovers that a few more corpses will turn up before he gets to the bottom of this particular case...

Also included on this CD is a BBC radio archive discussion, in which Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming discuss English and American thrillers.

Written By
Raymond Chandler

First Broadcast
The Lady in the Lake
BBC Radio 4
7 November 1977

Chandler/Fleming discussion BBC Home Service 10 July 1958