The High Window
Raymond Chandler
Mystery
I got this to fill a gap in the collection. To be honest, it's not one of Chandler's better books. The plot is by turns too baroque and too obvious, and there are too many characters who make an appearance and disappear again for no apparent purpose. It does contain some sharp character portraits, descriptive prose, and dialogue, though, so it's hardly a total loss. Marlowe's role as knight-errant is unusually explicit in this one; there's only one person in the story who's really a victim, and that's who Marlowe chooses to help.
I read that thirty years ago, and what I remember best is the part that I thought was least likely: I doubt you could really use 1920s dental equipment to make good counterfeit gold coins.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only hard to believe, it's a confused and not all that interesting part of the narrative. There's this coin, only there may be multiple fakes, and it's never clear which is the real one, except that apparently the casts look just as good as the real one, only somehow someone can tell . . .
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