Ross Macdonald Books

"The three novels collected in this second volume in the Library of America Ross Macdonald edition represent for many readers the summit of American crime writing. They remain thrilling for their searing psychological truth-telling, daring flights of narrative invention, and their keenly observed picture of the manners and morals of a particular time and place (Southern California in the early 1960s). Each reflects Macdonald's enduring concern with the hidden crimes and agonizing dysfunctions that haunt families from one generation to the next."--

"The blonde had eyes the color of cornflowers and a body whose curves just didn't quit. Her sweet kisses and a good bottle of bourbon were all Sam Drake wanted when his ship docked in Honolulu and gave him a chance to forget the war. But what Sam got was trouble. The first time, it was a body swinging at the end of a rope. The second time it was a throat slit ear to ear. And by the third time, even a long swallow of bad booze couldn't wash away the bitter memory of death, and tough Navy man Sam Drake found himself trapped in a dagerous game of unfaithful husbands, international intrigue--and cold blooded murder."--

After retirement from a career in medicine, the author turned his acute and wide-ranging mind to the study of the history and traditions of his native Lewis. With over sixty essays on people, places and tradition, this title reveals a range of the author's erudition, and informs his love and deep knowledge of his native island. schovat popis

Lew Archer's investigation into a wealthy man's dubious son-in-law quickly spirals into a complex web of murder, leading him from California's citrus belt to Mazatlan. As he uncovers a series of corpses, he encounters a zebra-striped hearse and a group of sun-kissed surfers, whose lives intertwine with the case. This fast-paced novel blends suspense and intrigue against the vivid backdrop of the California coast.

"In The Chill a distraught young man hires Archer to track down his runaway bride. But no sooner has he found Dolly Kincaid than Archer finds himself entangled in two murders, one twenty years old, the other so recent that the blood is still wet. What ensues is a detective novel of nerve-racking suspense, desperately believable characters, and one of the most intricate plots ever spun by an American crime writer."--Publisher's description

No matter what cases private eye Lew Archer takes on—a burglary, a runaway, or a disappeared person—the trail always leads to tangled family secrets and murder. Widely considered the heir to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, Archer dug up secrets and bodies in and around Los Angeles. Here, The Archer Files collects all the Lew Archer short stories ever published, along with thirteen unpublished “case notes” and a fascinating biographical profile of Archer by Edgar Award finalist Tom Nolan. Ross Macdonald’s signature staccato prose is the real star throughout this collection, which is both a perfect introduction for the newcomer and a must-have for the Macdonald aficionado.

When rich boy Peter Jamieson's fiancee suddenly breaks their engagement, Peter hires private detective Lew Archer to investigate the woman's mysterious French lover

In Sleeping Beauty, Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands--including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of Nembutal, a six-figure ransom, and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach. Here is Ross Macdonald's masterful tale of buried memories, the consequences of arrogance, and the anguished relations between parents and their children. Riveting, gritty, tautly written, Sleeping Beauty is crime fiction at its best. If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre-decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.