Michael Sharp's question of why Waldo is tagged as being able to describe Lola's clothes"in a way the ordinary man wouldn't know how to describe them"--I can't remember precisely, but perhaps Marlowe is guessing that Waldo has been instructed to look for a girl, identified as wearing certain clothes; which is to say, it's an arranged meeting. My own reactions: 1. First time I've read "Red Wind" and it seems to have all the trademark convolutions of a Chandler plot. 'Bout the time you think you've got the complete cast of suspects, another body and more attached live ones. Who cares whodunit! Let's get to the great face-offs, the dialogue, the descriptions. ...which is to say, plot is secondary for me in most Chandlers. 2. Best scenes for my money: The opening scene is a gem of misleads and surprises, worthy of any film. (Don't know why, but I think of the opening of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.) Then the scene where Lola "floats...soundless" up behind the killer who is ready to eliminate Marlowe (in my version). You think about it: her sandelwood scent, her background...she wouldn't seem to be the sort who could come up behind someone with so much experience, but you reread it and Chandler's style just floats her there and you're so thankful you don't care how she got there, and then that wonderful cinch of a line: "That buys me," I said. "Anything I have is yours--now and forever." 3. Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but "Red Wind" is now officially "literature, " with all that that implies. English majors will study it in a very popular Anthology of American Literature (Macmillan), Vol. II, located between a Carson McCullers and a Richard Wright. The story has footnotes! Let's all come up with the titles of English major essays that will be written... Onward! Bill Hagen <billha@ionet.net> - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca