Chapter 4 Summary

Marlowe carefully dresses himself like a bookworm intellectual and pays a visit to A.G. Geiger's bookstore. Once inside, he meets a blonde woman named Agnes who has, "enough sex appeal to stampede a business men's lunch." (38)

Despite the fact that she is obviously there as window decoration, Marlowe asks Agnes about a few rare books which he pretends to be interested in. Of course, Agnes is not there to sell rare books, she is there to look pretty, so she does not have the first clue what he is talking about.

Eventually, Agnes tells Marlowe that he should talk to Mr. Geiger, but he isn't in and won't be back until late. Marlowe is not dissuaded by such an obvious attempt to get him to leave the store, so he sits down in one of the chairs and smokes cigarettes while he...