Farewell,My Lovely - Review by Naga

Farewell, My Lovely
By Raymond Chandler

Miss Levin had a beautiful face, lovely complexion, captivating smile and reckless youth to complement. A rich old man proud to hold such a treasure in his possession puts a ring on it. He goes to great lengths to conceal her shady and not so approvable past through money and influence. What was so horrible in a past if she was only born poor? Or she made a living as a singer in bar rooms and such dingy places?  One should not forget that there could be jewels born in the rough. One could come across valuable objects groping in the dirt. But is she one of them? As the story unravels, we learn to what lengths ruthless ambition and survival need takes a girl to.

The story starts with Philip Marlowe, a private detective on an errand of restoring a missing husband to his wife. He encounters a man Moose Malloy looking for his old love Velma. He had a relationship with her before he was sent to prison. Released after 8 years, he comes back in search of her to the bar where she used to sing.The place is no longer open as the former owner died. Triggered at not finding what he was looking for, he kills the manager running the place and walks out. A couple of police officers track down a guy matching the description and follow his truck. They arrest the guy but it turns out to be someone else. After a couple of similar failed attempts, they give up searching for him. Marlowe, for lack of a paid engagement, starts assisting the police in tracking Velma. It is only natural to assume that Malloy would be on her trail as well and could be captured in the process. He pays a visit to the wife of the ex- owner of the bar, Mrs.Florian. She must have been beautiful once upon a time but what now remains is a wasted, unwashed and old woman heavily dependant on liquor.

He bribes her with a bottle of whiskey and forcibly steals a picture of Velma. She tells him that Velma was dead long ago. She doesn't know what or how it happened. He reports back to the police and with nothing left to do, walks back home. He receives a call from a man named Marriott who requires his services as a detective. He makes an appointment to see him at his mansion at 6 that evening. The house speaks of luxury and Marriott was known to have come into an inheritance a while back. He asks Marlowe to be his security guide on a secret mission he is going to undertake that night. He was to deliver an amount of 8000 dollars to a gang in exchange for expensive jewelry. A few weeks ago he goes out with a female friend of his and they were robbed. She was wearing a rare and expensive Jade which is worth eighty grand. It is a necklace with sixty beads each with a rare and refined cut that cannot be easily replaced. Marlowe and Marriott wait for a call from the gang and start to the appointed place at the appointed time. Marlowe ties to impersonate Marriott and gets down the car to snoop around. Someone out of the dark hits him on the head and falls to the ground. Regaining senses 20 mins after, he finds Marriott missing and also the eight grand in his pocket. He stumbles on a girl covered in black clothes and wearing a gun. She says she wanders off to the park out of boredom and loneliness. She shows him the dead body of Marriott lying a puddle of blood. Someone had shot him and obviously forgot to hide it or deliberately left it there. He gropes the pockets and finds everything in place. Nothing was stolen. If the objective was eight grand which they got from him, why kill Marriott? Did he put up a fight or try to resist their escape with the money? Just like us, the detective decides to leave it to the cops.

The girl we met during the dark hours of the gruesome murder happens to be a writer. Her father is a deceased ex cop and she uses her connections to pull some strings. The Jade belongs to a woman Mrs. Gayle who is young and married to a millionaire who doted on her. She gets Mrs. Gayle interested in using the services of Marlowe and makes an appointment for them to meet. Mrs. Gayle is a free spirited woman and loved to play. She had her affairs and escapades with young men to which Mr. Gayle turned a blind eye to. She directs her skills at seduction towards Marlowe from the moment he walks in. She coxes him, tries to play coy and spins a story of blackmail against Marriott. He is a blackmailer and a gigolo. He took her nude pictures and got her under his thumb. He was an  expensive man to maintain.

The girl stole three cigarettes from a case on Marriott's body and gives them to Marlowe. He cuts them open and finds a contact card of a psychic named amthor. Marlowe suggests that amthor is associated with the heist gang and is in collusion with Marriott at blackmailing rich women. Mrs. Gayle is one of his clients and regular visitors. Offended at the suggestions and to get rid of Marlowe, Amthor breaks his body bad. He is handed over to two suspicious looking cops. They take him out of city and drop at a secret hospital. He is put there in hostage for two days pumped full with drugs. He manages an escape but not before catching a glimpse of Moose. Moose is in hiding and the man running this place is aiding him. On a separate track, Moose has murdered Mrs. Florian for not giving him information on Velma. He suffocates herself to death and smashes her head against her bed rest. We also learn that her house is under the control of Marriott and he sends her a recurring monthly deposit.

There is not much left to the story after this point. He sends a message to moose to pay him a visit which he does. Mrs. Gayle comes at the same time as moose goes into hiding in the closet. He recognizes the voice and steps out ecstatic at having found his Velma. She had put him in jail and he is still in love with her. She rewards his love by putting five bullets into his gut. She runs out of bullets before hitting Marlowe as well. She runs off into hiding, not to be traced back. The twist is that the story about a heist and lost jewelry have been nothing more than that. A story. Mrs. Gayle is Velma. She went to great lengths to buy Marriott's and Mrs. Florian's silence. Mrs. Florian wasn't probably aware of the deception or she was a willing participant. Marriott plans to murder Marlowe the night of his death to get him off their trail. But Velma plans it to get rid of Marriott who is easy to bend. She gets caught at the end singing at a diner place.

Thus ends the mystery story. I would say I have read better than this. There are places where it gets dragged and I am glad I closed this book.