Archer at Large

Lew Archer #8, 11, 13

by Ross Macdonald

Fictional Novel; Literary Fiction

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Noir

626 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Ross Macdonald is the pseudonym of the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar. He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in southern California and featuring private detective Lew Archer.

Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in his parents' native Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where he started college. When his father abandoned his family unexpectedly, Macdonald lived with his mother and various relatives, moving several times by his sixteenth year. The prominence of broken homes and domestic problems in his fiction has its roots in his youth.

In Canada, he met and married Margaret Sturm (Margaret Millar)in 1938. They had a daughter, Linda, who died in 1970.

He began his career writing stories for pulp magazines. Millar attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key and a Ph.D. in literature. While doing graduate study, he completed his first novel, The Dark Tunnel, in 1944. At this time, he wrote under the name John Macdonald, in order to avoid confusion with his wife, who was achieving her own success writing as Margaret Millar. He then changed briefly to John Ross Macdonald before settling on Ross Macdonald, in order to avoid mixups with contemporary John D. MacDonald. After serving at sea as a naval communications officer from 1944 to 1946, he returned to Michigan, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree.

Macdonald's popular detective Lew Archer derives his name from Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, and from Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Macdonald first introduced the tough but humane private eye in the 1946 short story Find the Woman. A full-length novel, The Moving Target, followed in 1949. This novel (the first in a series of eighteen) would become the basis for the 1966 Paul Newman film Harper. In the early 1950s, he returned to California, settling for some thirty years in Santa Barbara, the area where most of his books were set. The very successful Lew Archer series, including bestsellers The Goodbye Look, The Underground Man, and Sleeping Beauty, concluded with The Blue Hammer in 1976.

Macdonald died of Alzheimer's disease in Santa Barbara, California.

Macdonald is the primary heir to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as the master of American hardboiled mysteries. His writing built on the pithy style of his predecessors by adding psychological depth and insights into the motivations of his characters. Macdonald's plots were complicated, and often turned on Archer's unearthing family secrets of his clients and of the criminals who victimized them. Lost or wayward sons and daughters were a theme common to many of the novels. Macdonald deftly combined the two sides of the mystery genre, the "whodunit" and the psychological thriller. Even his regular readers seldom saw a Macdonald denouement coming.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

During those days when I was addicted to the lean & clean prose of the hard-boiled style, and was practically thinking like the protagonists created by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, I had been recommended to read Ross Macdonald's works. Fortunately, thanks to AbeBooks, I had found this o-o-p omnibus, that allowed me to read three of the finest mystery novels in English literature (I repeat: English literature). It contains the critically acclaimed 'The Galton Case', one of the most intriguing mysteries in the form of 'The Chill', and the somewhat underrated but nevertheless brilliant 'Black Money'. The fact that these omnibus editions are not available is a sad thing. But that shouldn't deter you, if you are a mystery-lover and would like to read 3 of the best works emerging from the pen of the last of the great 3 of the hard-boiled style. Highly recommended.

[Ogden Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three pretty good stories. The Galton Case is about a son trying to figure out who killed his father many years ago. As usual, very complex plot with many characters to keep track of. The second one, The Big Chill, is the best. Very many ttwists keep you guessing. I had already read the third story (Black Money), which is not as good.

[Leew49 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, well-written and intricately plotted, the Archer novels stand apart from (and above!) much of detective fiction. Archer is neither an eccentric amateur sleuth nor an invincible tough guy, nor do the plots rely on the advanced forensics of the 21st century. Archer is at once empathetic and skeptical, a compassionate cynic. The criminals he hunts follow deep and complex motivations that sometimes even they do not understand. Human psychology, human frailty and a dark inevitability that transcends and supersedes conscious thought are the true mysteries Archer must confront. Crimes can be solved and criminals brought to justice, but the real motives often become more mysterious the more we learn about them.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Older readings sometimes are quite good. The different writing styles and wordings can pull you into a world far away, with out being a fantasy.
There were some defenite plot twists in all three of these stories, some I was surprised with, others, I was surprised in how they got there more so then the twist itself.
All in all if I came across more of this late authors works today, I would probably give them a go too.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read and re-read many of Ross MacDonald's detective novels featuring Lew Archer. There are three in this anthology: The Galton Case is far and away the best: issues of parentage, switched identity, etc. The Chill gets a bit bogged down.

[Roshni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three great Lew Archer novels in one omnibus. Macdonald's style is fantastic, as usual.

[Patrick]

10/18/12: Foreword by Ross Macdonald
10/18/12: Black Money
1/29/10: The Chill