Authors > Ross Macdonald

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, it was 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 predecessors 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.

Featured Titles:

The Drowning Pool

When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her good-for-nothing son and his seductive teenage daughter.

Year: 1950     Genre: Murder Mystery, Private Eye

The Galton Case

Anthony Galton disappeared almost 20 years ago. Now his aging--and very rich--mother has hired Lew Archer to bring him back. What turns up is a headless skeleton, a suspicious heir, and a con man whose stakes are so high that someone is still willing to kill for them.

Year: 1959     Genre: Missing Person, Private Eye

The Chill

In The Chill a distraught young man hires private investigator Lew 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.

Year: 1963     Genre: Cold Case, Missing Person, Private Eye, Suspense

The Underground Man

The Underground Man is a detective novel of merciless suspense and tragic depth, with an unfaltering insight into the moral ambiguities at the heart of California's version of the American dream.

Year: 1971     Genre: Private Eye

Dec 13, 1915 -- Jul 11, 1983
Author



Series & Characters

Primary Genres & Topics

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Titles

Read
It		Wish
List		 
Year
Title
Genres
Series, Characters
-- -- 1947Blue City Crime Fiction, Noir Fiction, Revenge
-- -- 1949The Moving Target Hardboiled Detective, Kidnapping, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1950The Drowning Pool Murder Mystery, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1951The Way Some People Die Hardboiled Detective, Missing Person, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1952The Ivory Grin Hardboiled Detective, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1954Find a Victim Hardboiled Detective, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1956The Barbarous Coast Hardboiled Detective, Missing Person, Private Eye, HollywoodLew Archer
-- -- 1958The Doomsters Hardboiled Detective, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1959The Galton Case Missing Person, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1961The Wycherly Woman Missing Person, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1962The Zebra-Striped Hearse Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1963The Chill Cold Case, Missing Person, Private Eye, SuspenseLew Archer
-- -- 1965The Far Side of the Dollar Kidnapping, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1966Black Money Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1968The Instant Enemy Kidnapping, Missing Person, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1969The Goodbye Look Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1971The Underground Man Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1973Sleeping Beauty Crime Fiction, Family Secrets, Private EyeLew Archer
-- -- 1976The Blue Hammer Cold Case, Missing Person, Private EyeLew Archer