Farewell, My Lovely

Moose Malloy is the man who starts the central drama of the novel. He is described as incredibly large, so large that he must wear specially-made clothing. He spent eight years in prison for robbing a bank and has killed people, but Marlowe doesn’t view him as a murderer. Rather, he is a charismatic man who doesn’t know his own strength. He can be viewed as a sentimental character who is still in love with his ex-fiancé, despite that she betrayed him by turning him into the cops. It’s important to note that he has had on at least two occasions the opportunity to kill Marlowe, but he chooses not to. In fact, the only murders he committed were an angry byproduct of his search for Velma. That is to say, he doesn’t seek out people to murder; rather, his murders can be best described as crimes of passion. 

Velma is the object of Moose Malloy’s affections and his former fiancé. When she used to work as a night club singer and have red hair, she presumably turned in Moose to the police and married a multimillionaire, reinventing herself as Mrs. Grayle, the gaudy blonde with a lavish lifestyle. She is promiscuous, having numerous extramarital affairs, but she is also honest in her lifestyle: her husband knows what she does, and she doesn’t hide her behavior from Marlowe.

Mrs. Grayle is one of the most complex characters in the novel: her dual identities seem to represent two differing personalities. On the one hand, she seems to gravitate towards the spotlight; instead of secretly hiding from the police by the end of the novel, she changes her appearance and works in a very public setting. Even when she was married to Mr. Grayle, she sought the attentions of the men around her. On the other hand, she is a brutal murderer. Rather than just shooting Marriott to quiet him, she savagely beat him to death so that he was almost unrecognizable. So while she is usually seen as a flirty, boisterous seductress, she is secretly an unfeeling killer. 

Anne can be seen as the antithesis of Velma. While Velma is a loud and beautiful criminal, Anne is a cute, quiet, law-abider. While Velma openly tries to seduce Marlowe, Anne’s attraction to him is subtle and restrained. It’s only at the very end of the novel that she asks Marlowe to kiss her. Marlowe repeatedly refers to Anne as a nice girl; that is, she would make a great companion because she’s smart and capable, and she comes from a nice family as evidenced by the home her late parents left her, as well as the fact that her father was a good cop. While she would make a good girlfriend or companion, Marlowe knows he’s more attracted to dangerous women like Velma.

While Marlowe usually has a low opinion of law enforcement, Randall is the exception. Marlowe notes that Randall is quick-witted, with a keen eye for detail and investigation. While Marlowe is the one who cracks the case, Randall is the police officer who follows up with the investigation and gives Marlowe the final information about Velma.