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7:38 a.m. - 2020-04-20 The book contains six violent deaths distributed among only twenty-three characters. The murder of Rusty Regan occurred before Chandler's private eye protagonist Philip Marlowe was hired, and Marlowe (and the audience) become aware of it only at the end of the novel. Regan was a former bootlegger married to Vivian Sternwood, one of two daughters of General Sternwood, the wealthy, dying old man who hires Marlowe. We learn much later that Regan was shot by Vivian's unstable sister Carmen because he refused her advances. Sternwood's stated reason for hiring Marlowe is to deal with the Arthur Geiger, a pornography merchant who is blackmailing Sternwood with some nude photos of Carmen. Marlowe intuits that Sternwood is also hurt by the disappearance of Regan and would like to learn his whereabouts and reason for leaving. Geiger ceases to be a threat early in the novel, shot three times by Sternwood's chauffeur Owen Taylor, who is in love (one-sidedly) with Carmen. Carmen adds to the confusion by claiming falsely that Geiger was killed by a grifter named Joe Brody. Shortly thereafter Taylor is found dead in a wrecked car, but the police and coroner cannot agree on whether the death is a murder, suicide, or accident. Taylor has the marks of a sap (blackjack) on his head, leading to the confusion about his demise. When Marlowe confronts Brody, the latter admits that he hit Taylor with a blackjack, but claims that Taylor then revived and drove off. Since there are no other witnesses to Taylor's demise, the reader is left to draw his or her own conclusions about the cause of death. It was Taylor's death that led the movie cast to ask Chandler what really happened, and the question remains open.While talking with Marlowe Brody is called to the door of his apartment and shot fatally when he opens it. Marlowe pursues and apprehends the killer, a young man named Carol Lundgren who was an intimate of Geiger and thought (inaccurately) that he was avenging Geiger's murder. Harry Jones, a small-time crook, is in love with Geiger's secretary, Agnes Lozelle, yet another one-sided romance. When he won't give away her location, he is poisoned with cyanide by a gunman named Lash Canino, who is in the employ of gambler Eddie Mars. Mars knows the facts about Regan's death and has been hiding the truth, hoping that when Vivian Sternwood comes into her inheritance he will be able to blackmail her with the threat of sending her sister to prison. Canino is later shot in self defense by Marlowe. There is a seventh murder in the film version which doesn't occur in the novel: Mars is mistakenly gunned down by his own henchmen in a trap set by Marlowe. There are several other changes in the transition from novel to screenplay, most notable being the role of Vivian Sternwood. In the movie she is played by Lauren Bacall and predictably provides a romantic interest for Bogart's character. In the novel Vivian is a mixture of good and bad traits: a bored, dissolute gambler who nevertheless shows strong loyalty to her father and sister. Marlowe admires her looks but knows she is trouble, and his only stated romantic interest is in the estranged wife of Eddie Mars. This echoes the recurring theme of futile, unrequited love which is the motive for so many of the killings. The screenwriters added what appears to be a romantic interlude in a bookstore between Bogart and the attractive and likable proprietress played by Dorothy Malone. Geiger's homosexuality and activities as a pornographer were also downplayed because of the film standards of the time. Bogart's beating at the hands of Mars's thugs does not take place in the book. Carmen wanted Regan and killed him when she couldn't have him. Taylor loved Carmen, who cared nothing for him, and shot Geiger to protect her. Brody was killed by Geiger's lover Carol Lundgren, mistaking him for Geiger's murderer. Jones loved Agnes, who didn't reciprocate, and willingly gave his life to protect her. Carmen wanted Marlowe but couldn't have him and would have killed him if she could. Marlowe was attracted to Mona Grant, whom he never saw again. Chandler's view of physical and romantic love is an invitation to life in a monastery.
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